FEB   4  1.910 


oS^^JJ^ury^ 


'X^tS-A-C^  -"^  tJ    / 


Copyright,  1906,  by  C.  B.  Titus 


NOTICE. 


The  two  volumes  of  this  work  haviug  been 
issued  at  different  times  and  places,  the  chapters 
are  in  non-consecutive  order.  The  reader,  there- 
fore, must  be  guided  by  the  Table  of  Contents 
through  this  *' tentative  edition." 


*      rttj    4  1910       ^ 
^v,,  —  --^--  •,,'^' 

The  Greatest  Work  in  the  World ; 

OR 

The  Mission  of  Christ's  Disciples 


CHARLES    B.  TITUS, 

FOR   SEVEN   YEARS   A   MISSIONARY   IN   CHINA 

Appointed  by  the  Iforeign  Christian  Missionary 
Society 


JESUS   SAYS: 

The  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.— Luke  19: 10. 

As  my  Father  hath  sent  me.  so  send  I  you.— John  20:31. 

The  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the 
Father.    He  will  gruide  you.— .John  15:26. 

Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations.— Matt.  28:19. 

Father,  I  pray  also  for  them  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word, 
that  they  all  may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast 
sent  me.— John  17:20,  31. 


—2— 


CONTENTS 


Preface:    "T/ie  Greatest  Wor¥''  defined. 
PART  I 

H(m  God  Has  Spoken  to  Man ;  Or,  Hoic,  Through  Whom  and  to 
WJwm,  His  Woi'd  Was  Given. 

Chapter  1.    Introduction.    God  spoke  to  man  and  left  not  Him- 
self without  witness. 

"  2.  Men  ignore  God,  become  corrupt,  and  are  destroyed. 
Righteous  Noah  and  family  saved.  The  earth 
re-peopled. 

"       3.    Men  worship  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator. 

All  nations  that  forget  God  perish.    God's  chosen 

people  spared  upon  repentance. 
*'       4.    The  three  classes— God-fearing,  God-disobeying  and 

God-forgetting. 

"       5.    God  has  spoken  to  the  heathen: 

In  the  old  dispensation,  through  the  prophets, 
In  the  new  dispensation,  by  His  Son. 

PART  II 

How  God  Has  Not  Spoken  to  Man;  Or,  a  Rebuttal  of  the  Claims 

of  Natural  Theology. 

Chapter  1.    The  Source  of  Natural  Theology. 
2.    The  Fruit  of  Evolution. 


-3— 


CONTENTS.     (Continued) 


(^hapter  3.  Was  Socrates  a  Christian  before  Christ? 

"       4.  Was  Confucius  as  much  inspired  as  Moses? 

'*       5.  Does  Nature  Reveal  God? 

*'       6.  The  Gentiles  also  may  be  saved.    Rom.  2:14,  15. 

PART  III 

H(yuo  God^s  Word  is  Now  Made  3fanifest  Through  Preaching;  Or, 
the  World-Field  Mission  of  Witnesses  for  Christ. 

Chapter  1.    The  Greatest  Reason  for  Preaching  the  Gospel  to 
the  Heathen. 
"        2.    A  Man  of  Ethiopia.— Acts  8:26-40. 

3.    The  Gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
"       4.    The  Pro  and  Con  of  "Heathen  Missions." 

Appendix :    So'nie  Friendly  Criticisms  Considered. 

Chapter  1.  By  a  Professor  of  Bible. 

"       2.  By  a  Unitarian. 

"       3.  By  an  ex-missionary. 

''       4.  The  one  god  some  Greeks  thought  out. 


For  full  book,  as  per  Table  of  Contents,  write  the  author  r\^    fj 

at  Sttt«per,  Kan8a6>    C^4-%^  ^/U^vi  ^  \(\/JC^^uy^ 


-4— 


PREFACE 


What  is  the  greatest  work  in  the  world?  To  believe  on  Him 
whom  God  sent  (John  6:29),  and  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
He  has  commanded  (Matt.  28:20). 

What  is  Jesus'  greatest  command  to  His  disciples?  To 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  person  in  the  world  (Mark  16:15),  and 
make  disciples  of  all  nations  (Matt.  28:19). 

What,  therefore,  is  the  greatest  mission,  and  who  are  the 
greatest  missionaries  in  the  world?  The  world-field  mission 
(Acts  1:8;  Luke  24:47,48),  of  the  witnesses  for  Christ  (Matt. 
16:19;  Acts  4:20;  8:4;  22:15;  26:16-18;  II  Cor.  5:20;  II  Tim.  2:2). 

What  was  Jesus'  greatest  purpose  in  coming  into  the  world? 
To  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost  (Luke  19:10). 

What  was  the  greatest  cause  assigned  for  man's  lost  con- 
dition? Sin,  or  yielding  to  the  temptation  of  Satan  (Matt.  1:21 : 
Acts  13:38),  for  the  wages  of  sin  is  death  (Rom.  6:23). 

What  is  the  greatest  power  of  Satan?  The  power  of  death 
(Heb.  2:14). 

The  fear  of  death  keeps  men  in  what  greatest  bondage?  The 
bondage  to  Satan  (Heb.  2:15). 

In  whom  had  God  purposed  the  greatest  salvation  for  lost 
man,  before  the  world  began?  In  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  who 
hath  abolished  death  and  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light 
through  the  gospel  (II  Tim.  1:10). 

Why  is  Jesus  the  greatest  authority  on  the  question  of  man's 
salvation?  Because  God  hath  appointed  Him  to  judge  the  world 
according  to  His  gospel  (Acts  17:31 ;  Rom.  2:16). 

Who  was  the  greatest  preacher  to  the  Gentiles  commissioned 
by  Jesus?    Paul  (Acts  26:16-18 ;  Gal.  2:2). 

What  are  Paul's  greatest  declarations  as  to  who  are  lost? 
All  have  sinned  (both  Jews  and  Gentiles)  and  come  short  of  the 
glory  of  God  (Rom.  3:9,  23).  The  Scripture  hath  concluded  all 
under  sin,  that  the  promise  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  might  be 
given  to  them  that  believe  (Gal.  3:22).    God   hath  concluded 


them  all  in  unbelief  that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  all  (Rom. 
11:32). 

What  is  the  greatest  power  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  any, 
or  all  the  lost,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  civilized  or  heathen? 
The  gospel  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  (Rom.  1:16). 

In  obedience  to  Christ's  command,  what  then  is  the  greatest 
reason  for  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen?  Because  they 
are  lostr— lost  from  the  only  name  under  heaven  given  among 
men  whereby  we  must  be  saved  (Acts  4:12). 

Why  is  hearing  the  gospel  a  condition  of  greatest  necessity 
in  God's  plan  of  salvation?  "For  how  shall  they  believe  in  Him 
of  whom  they  have  not  heard?"— Rom.  10:14. 

Why  is  failure  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  the 
greatest  sin  of  omission  with  which  Christians  are  chargeable 
before  the  bar  of  God?  "For  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher?"— Rom.  10:14. 

Why  is  the  use  of  God-given  talents  ("as  God  hath  pros- 
pered") for  all  purposes  other  than  sending  preachers  of  the  gos- 
pel to  the  heathen  the  greatest  sin  committed  by  Christ's  dis- 
ciples today?  "For  how  shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent?" 
—Rom.  10:15. 

What  is  God's  greatest  gift  to  the  lost  world?  His  Son,  to 
be  their  Savior  (John  3:16). 

What  is  the  Son's  greatest  gift  to  the  saved  world?  The 
Holy  Spirit,  to  be  their  Comforter  (Acts  2:38). 

What  is  the  Holy  Spirit's  greatest  weapon  in  the  Christian's 
armor?  The  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God  (Eph. 
6:17). 

What,  then,  is  the  greatest  office  of  the  Holy  Spirit  when 
sent  by  Christ  to  abide  in  His  disciples?  To  convict  the  world 
(of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  civilized  and  heathen— all  worldly-minded) 
of  sin,  of  rightousness,  of  judgment  (John  16:8-11). 

Which  class  comprises  the  greatest  number  to  be  thus  con- 
victed of  sin?  The  heathen  Gentiles,  for  all  are  breaking  the 
very  first  commandment  of  Jehovah,  namely,  "Thou  shalt  have 
no  other  Gods  before  me"  (Ex.  20:3);  hence  are  not  saved,  nei- 
ther indeed  can  be  except  through  faith  in  Christ,  the  Son,  in 
whom  God  is  now  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself  (Rev.  14: 
12;  II  Cor.  5:19). 


— 6— 

Why  are  the  heathen  Gentiles  in  the  greatest  peril?  Be- 
cause in  darkness  and  tlie  power  of  Satan  (Acts  26:18). 

Why  is  the  word  of  God  the  greatest  weapon  in  the  conver- 
sion of  sinners?  Because  it  is  quick  and  powerful  and  sharper 
than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder 
of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart  (Heb.  4:12).  Of 
His  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the  word  of  truth  (James  1 :  18).  In 
Christ  Jesus  I  have  begotten  you  through  the  gospel  (I  Cor.  4:15). 

What  are  some  of  the  greatest  inventions  man  has  sought 
out  (Eccl.  7:29)  to  prove  that  the  heathen  will  be  saved  as  they 
are?  (1)  Want  of  opportunity  to  hear  and  believe.  (2)  Ignor- 
ance. (3)  Sufficient  truth  in  their  own  religions.  (4)  Living  up 
to  the  light  God  has  given  them  through  nature.  (5)  "All  men 
after  all  worship  the  one  God." 

What  is  the  greatest  reason  for  suspicioning  the  validity  of 
all  these  inventions?  Because  all  are  of  man,  human— of  the 
earth,  earthy  (I  Cor.  15:48 ;  John  3:31). 

Shall  we  ask  then,  as  a  final  greatest  question.  Whence  Com- 
eth the  light  of  truth?  Every  good  and  every  perfect  gift  is 
from  above  and  cometh  down  from  the  Father  of  lights  (James 
1:17).  A  man  can  receive  nothing  except  it  be  given  him  from 
heaven  (John  3:27).  If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of 
God  who  giveth  to  all  men  liberally  and  upbraideth  not.  But  let 
him  ask  in  faith,  nothing  wavering  (James  1:5,  6).  God's  word 
is  truth  (John  17:17).  The  Word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us  (John  1 :  14)  and  Jesus  says :    I  am  the  ti-uth.—^ohn  14 :  16. 


— 7- 


INTRODUCTION 


This  work  was  written  in  a  foreign  field  by  a  missionary 
worker.  It  is  an  arg-ument  to  show  that  God  can  be  made 
known  to  men  only  through  Christ. 

Nature  supplements  the  teaching  of  revelation,  and  the 
Christian  student  can  continually  learn  of  God  through  his  handi- 
work. But  nature  has  no  distinct  message  to  the  soul  of  man ; 
and  until  her  silence  is  broken  by  the  manifestation  of  a  life 
above  and  beyond  her,  she  is  essentially  voiceless.  The  soul  of 
man  cries  out  for  God,  but  it  is  a  task  beyond  reason  out  of  the 
longings  of  the  soul  to  construct  God.  Even  if  it  were  possible, 
He  would  remain  an  abstraction,  unreal  and  intangible.  The 
normal  soul  cries  out  for  God,  the  living  God,  who  takes  us  into 
companionship,  who  makes  us  know  that  he  is  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities,  who — as  far  as  we  can  bear  it — com- 
munes with  us,  and  vitalizes  us  with  his  own  life. 

Nothing  short  of  this  will  regenerate  our  race.  Men  may 
fashion  wise  philosophies ;  they  may  make  the  highest  possible 
deductions  from  nature  and  the  soul  of  man,  but  they  will  fall 
immeasurably  short  of  what  humanity  demands.  There  must 
come  a  message  from  "the  other  side."  And  that  message  has 
come  in  Jesus ;  it  comes  no  other  where.  When  one  verily  ac- 
cepts him  there  comes  the  growing  consciousness  that  in  Him 
every  need  of  the  soul  is  met.  He  is  his  own  best  evidence.  And 
truly  no  man  cometh  to  the  Father  but  by  Him.  In  every  sense 
the  saving  of  the  world  depends  upon  the  acceptance  of  this 
truth. 

Blessed  are  they  who  press  it  to  the  hearts  of  men. 

Since  the  author  of  this  work  was  a  worthy  student  and 
graduate  of  Hiram  College,  we  have  followed  his  brave  and  use- 
ful work  in  a  foreign  land  with  an  especial  interest.  We  trust 
that  this  book,  which  is  born  of  a  burden  upon  his  heart,  may 
prove  a  means  of  increasing  his  usefulness  and  power. 

E.  B.  Wakefield, 
Professor  of  Christian  Evidences 
Hiram  College,  Ohio. 


— 8- 


PART  II 


How  God  Has  Not  Spoken  to  Man  ;    Or,  A  Rebuttal  of 
the  Claims  of  Natural  Theology 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Source  of  Natural  Theology 

When,  in  1812,  the  youthful  Alexander  Campbell  resolved  to 
preach  and  practice  the  gospel,  as  taught  by  Jesus  the  Christ 
and  His  Apostles,  immediately  the  clergy  of  all  denominations, 
and  even  infidel  speakers  of  note,  felt  called  upon  to  oppose  him ; 
and  later,  in  1842,  when  he  founded  a  College  upon  the  Bible, 
those  in  charge  of  theological  schools  everywhere  began  to  cast 
hostile  and  Pharisaical  glances  at  him.  The  first  attacking 
party  rallied  to  the  defense  of  their  man-made  creeds ;  the  sec- 
ond treated  with  self-righteous  scorn  the  thought  that  their 
voluminous  works  on  theology  in  many  departments  of  this 
science  so-called  had  no  other  foundation  than  the  ideas  of 
learned  pagans  who  flourished  before  the  dawn  of  Christianity. 
It  is  needless  to  state  how  ingloriously  the  first  party  were  beat- 
en back.  Everywhere  human  creeds  are  crumbling  today.  The 
other  party,  the  rationalistic  Gibeonltes  still  dwell  in  the  land, 
rightfully  the  promised  land  of  the  children  of  God,  because  of  a 
league  made  by  cunning  and  deception  on  their  part. 

Let  us,  then,  direct  our  attention  more  particularly  to  this 
latter  part — the  theologians.  Quoting  from  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica,  we  learn  that  "the  word  theology"  comes  from  a 
heathen  source — from  the  Greek  classics.  It  occurs  in  the  Re- 
public of  Plato  and  the  Metaphysics  of  Aristotle.  The  exten- 
sion given  to  the  signification  of  the  term  theology  was  for  a 
very  lengthened  period  almost  universally  restricted  to  the  knowl- 
edge derivable  from  the  Scriptures,  the  systematic  exhibition  of 
revealed  truth,  the  science  of  Christian  faith  and  life.  Later, 
however,  there  was  the  rise  and  development  of  a  theology  not 
based  on  revelation— the  rise  and  development  of  what  is  called 
natural  theology. 


— 9— 

We  note,  then,  first,  that  natural  theology  is  not  based  on 
revelation,  on  revealed  truth,  or  derived  from  the  Scriptures, 
Certainly,  then  it  can  be  no  part  of  the  gospel  which  is  the  pow- 
er of  God  unto  salvation,  and  therefore  it  is  no  essential  part  of 
the  Christian's  armor,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit.  But  let  us  ex- 
pose it  more  fully  to  the  light.  The  Biblical  Theological  and  Ec- 
clesiastical Cyclopedia  by  McClintock  &  Strong,  under  the  head 
of  Natural  Theology,  says:  "Since  the  time  of  Paley  (1743-1805), 
whose  name  is  best  known  of  all  those  who  have  entered  this 
field,  writers  in  large  nnmbers  have  appeared  who  have  written 
treatises  professedly  on  this  subject,  or  have  treated  it  indirect- 
ly in  connection  with  scientific  discussions.  Some  of  the  ablest 
arguments  have  been  made  in  this  way,  and  of  late  years  great 
additions  have  been  made,  directly  and  indirectly  to  such  writ> 
ings.  See  literature  Xenophon's  Memorabilia;  Plato's  Laws, 
Book  X  ;  Cicero's  De  Natura  Deorum,  etc." 

We  may  now  inquire,  Whence  did  W^illiam  Paley  get  his 
ideas  on  Natural  Theology?  Mackintosh's  Progress  of  Ethical 
Philosophy  says:  "It  cannot  be  denied  that  Paley  was  some- 
times a  lax  moralist."  Lippincott's  Pronouncing  Biographical 
Dictionary  says:  "We  do  not  attach  any  very  great  importance 
to  the  charge  of  stupendous  plagiarism  brought  against  Paley 
for  what  he  has  borrowd  from  Dr.  Nieuwentyt.  Macaulay  well 
remarks  in  an  article  on  Kanke's  History  of  the  Popes,  that  the 
reasoning  by  which  Socrates,  in  Xenophon's  hearing,  confuted 
the  little  Atheist  Aristoderaus,  is  exactly  the  reasoning  of  Paley's 
natural  theology.  If,  then,  Paley's  line  of  argument  is  exactly 
like  that  of  Socrates  and  also  the  same  as  that  employed  by 
Dr.  Nieuwentj't,  it  is  at  least  possible  that  Dr.  Nieuwentyt  may 
have  derived  some  of  his  ideas  and  arguments,  if  not  his  partic- 
ular illustrations,  from  Socrates.  The  chief  merit  of  Paley,  who 
does  not  appear  to  have  made  any  special  pretention  to  origin- 
ality as  respects  the  individual  ideas  or  illustrations  of  his  sub- 
ject, consists  in  the  admirable  skill  and  ability  with  which  he 
combines  and  presents  the  whole  argument. 

Reader,  does  it  not  begin  to  look  as  though  the  pagan  Greeks 
furnished  the  basis  of  Natural  Theology?  Let  us  quote  again 
from  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica:  "The  appearance  of  Natural 
Theology  as  a  distinct  science  may  be  dated  from  the  publication 


—lo- 
ot" Raymond  de  Sebonde's  Theoligia  Naturalis  in  1436,  although 
portions  of  it  had  been  admirably  presented  by  ancient  philoso- 
phers, e.  g.,  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle  and  Cicero.  It  flourished 
with  extraordinary  vigor  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
and  throughout  the  eighteenth  century." 

"Raymond  de  Sebonde  was  a  Spanish  physician  and  taught 
theology  in  the  university  of  Toulouse  during  the  earlier  part  of 
the  fifteenth  century.  His  work  was  perhaps  tlie  first  in  which, 
proceeding  on  the  principle  that  God  has  given  us  two  books, 
the  book  of  nature  and  the  book  of  Scripture,  confined  itself  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  former,  merely  indicating  the  mutual 
relations  of  natural  and  revealed  religion.  McClintock  &  Strong 
say  of  him:  "He  wrote  besides  several  manuscript  works, 
Theologia  Naturalis,  in  which  he  sets  forth  the  doctrine  of 
Aquinas." 

Now,  as  Thomas  Aquinas  lived  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
we  are  slowly  but  surely  threading  our  way  back  to  the  pagan 
Greeks  as  the  source  of  Natural  Theology.  Quoting  again  from 
McClintock  &  Strong,  "Thomas  Aquinas,  the  most  conspicuous 
of  the  theological  philosophers  of  the  Middle  Age,  was  born  at 
Aquino,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  in  1224  or  1226,  of  a  noble 
family.  The  scholastic  philosophy  reached  its  culmination  in 
Aquinas.  He  rendered  real  service  to  the  Aristotelian  philos- 
ophy by  the  pains  he  took  to  effect  a  translation  of  the  works  in 
which  it  was  contained,  and  by  his  commentaries  on  them.  He 
was  a  Realist,  inasmuch  as  he  maintained  that  the  ideas  of 
things,  after  the  pattern  of  which  the  world  was  made,  pre- 
existed eternally  in  the  divine  mind  (although  not  independent 
of  God)  and  regarded  them  as  the  proper  objects  of  knowledge,  and 
as  the  forms  which  determine  the  nature  and  properties  of  all 
things.  This  system  he  endeavored  to  place  on  a  firmer  basis  by 
extending  the  theory  of  thought  expounded  by  Aristotle,  to 
which  he  superadded  some  ideas  of  the  system  of  Plato  and  of 
the  Alexandrians.  With  this  is  connected  his  explanation  of 
the  conceptions  of  matter  and  force  as  elements  of  compound 
substances,  as  also  his  explanation  of  the  principle  of  individu- 
ation. The  rational  soul,  the  nature  of  which  he  discusses  after 
Aristotle's  system,  is  the  substantial  form  of  man,  immaterial 
and  indestructible.    Philosophy  consists,  according  to  him,   in 


—11— 

science  searching  for  truth  with  the  instrument  of  human  rea- 
son, but  he  maintains  necessary  for  salvation  of  man  that  Divine 
revelation  should  disclose  to  him  certain  things  transcending 
the  grasp  of  human  reason. 

Having  now  traced  Natural  Theology  back  to  the  Greeks  as 
the  originators,  there  remains  the  pertinent  and  too-long  over- 
looked question,  After  all  the  Greek  manuscripts  have  been 
examined,  do  they  teach,  or  even  think  of  teaching,  all  the 
Christian  thought  and  content  afterwards  put  into  their  words 
and  called  Natural  Theology? 

From  the  Nicomachean  Ethics  of  Aristotle,  Book  X,  chap- 
ter 8,  we  read:  "Our  conception  of  the  gods  is  that  they  are 
pre-eminently  happy  and  fortunate.  But  what  kind  of  actions 
do  we  properly  attribute  to  them?  Are  they  just  actions?  But 
it  would  make  the  gods  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  they  form 
contracts,  restore  deposits,  and  so  on.  Are  they  the  courageous 
actions?  Do  the  Gods  endure  dangers  and  alarms  for  the  sake 
of  honor?  Or  liberal  actions?  But  to  whom  should  they  give 
money?  It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  they  have  a  cur- 
rency or  anything  of  the  kind.  Again,  What  will  be  the  nature 
of  their  temperate  actions?  Surely,  to  praise  the  gods  for  tem- 
perance is  to  degrade  them  ;  they  are  exempt  from  low  desires. 
We  may  go  through  the  whole  category  of  virtues,  and  it  will 
appear  that  whatever  relates  to  moral  action,  is  petty  and 
unworthyof  the  gods." 

Friends,  shall  we  reject  the  creeds  written  by  men  of  our 
own  time,  and  accept  and  teach  students  who  contemplate  going 
forth  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  such  pagan  ideas  as  Aris- 
totle expresses  of  the  gods,  as  one  of  the  two  books  God  has 
given  us — the  book  of  nature? 

But  before  forming  our  final  judgment,  let  us  hear  what 
Plato  has  to  say.  Perhaps  he  will  do  better  than  his  pupil, 
Aristotle.  From  Plato's  Laws,  Book  X,  we  read:  "How  would 
you  prove  the  existence  of  the  gods?  asks  Athenian.  And  the 
answer  is,  In  the  first  place,  the  earth  and  the  sun  and  the  stars 
and  the  universe,  and  the  fair  order  of  the  seasons,  and  the 
division  of  them  into  years  and  months,  furnish  proof  of  their 
existence ;  and  also  there  is  the  fact  that  all  Hellenes  and  bar- 
barians believe  in  them."    Cicero  in  "De  Natura  Deorum"  third 


—12— 

book,  says:  "I  believe  in  the  gods,"  says  Cotta,  the  Pontifex 
Maximus,  "on  the  authority  and  tradition  of  our  ancestors ;  but 
if  we  reason,  I  shall  reason  against  their  existence."  ''Of  course. 
I  believe  in  divination  as  I  have  always  been  taught  to  do.  But 
who  knows  whence  it  comes  as  to  the  voice  of  the  Fauns,  I  never 
heard  it ;  and  I  do  not  know  what  a  Faun  is.  You  say  that  the 
regular  course  of  nature  proves  the  existence  of  some  ordering 
power.  But  what  more  regular  than  a  tertian  or  quartan  fever? 
The  world  subsists  by  the  power  of  nature." 

"Like  the  soul  which  carries  us  about  every  way,  this  soul  of 
the  sun,  which  is  therefore  better  than  the  sun,  whether  taking 
the  sun  about  in  a  chariot  to  give  light  to  men,  or  acting  from 
without  or  in  whatever  way,  ought  by  every  man  to  be  deemed  a 
god.  And  of  the  stars,  too,  and  of  the  moon,  and  of  the  years 
and  months  and  seasons,  must  we  not  say  in  like  manner,  that 
since  a  soul  or  souls  having  every  sort  of  excellence  are  the 
causes  of  all  of  them,  those  souls  are  gods,  whether  they  are  liv- 
ing beings  and  reside  in  bodies  and  in  this  way  order  the  whole 
heaven,  or  whatever  be  the  place  and  mode  of  their  existence: 
and  will  any  one  who  admits  all  this  venture  to  deny  that  all 
things  are  full  of  godsV" 

Over  six  centuries  after  this,  Paul  met  the  students  of  the 
works  of  this  same  Plato  and  this  same  Aristotle  and  this  same 
Socrates  on  Mars  Hill  and  said  to  them:  "Ye  men  of  Athens, 
in  all  things  I  perceive  that  ye  are  too  superstitious.  For  as  I 
passed  along,  and  observed  the  objects  of  your  devotion,  I  found 
also  an  altar  with  this  inscription,  'To  an  unknown  God.' 
What  therefore  ye  worship  in  ignorance,  this  set  I  forth  unto 
you.  The  God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein,  he 
being  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  dwelleth  not  in  temples  made 
with  hands ;  neither  is  he  served  by  men's  hands,  as  though  he 
needed  anjthing,  seeing  he  himself  giveth  to  all  life  and  breath 
and  all  things ;  and  he  made  of  one  every  nation  of  men  for  to 
dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  having  determined  their  ap- 
pointed seasons  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation ;  that  they 
should  seek  God,  if  happily  they  might  feel  after  him  and  find 
him,  though  he  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us:  for  in  him  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  as  certain  even  of  your  own 
poets  have  said — 'For  we  are  also  his  offspring.'    Being  then  the 


—13— 

offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  godhead  is  like 
unto  gold  or  silver  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and  device  of  men. 
The  times  of  this  ignorance,  therefore,  God  overlooked,  but  now 
commandeth  men  that  they  should  all  everywhere  repent:  in- 
asmuch as  he  hath  appointed  a  day,  in  the  which  he  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  the  man  whom  he  hath  or- 
dained ;  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance  unto  all  men  in  that 
he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead." 

Note  that  these  men  to  whom  Paul  thus  preached  had  the 
writings  of  Plato  and  Socrates  and  Aristotle.  Yet  Paul,  com- 
missioned by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  go  unto  the  Gentiles,  to 
turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  God,  calls  upon  these  very  disciples  of  Socrates,  these  men  of 
Athens,  to  repent.  And  who  will  say  but  that  Paul  was  right 
and  that  these  men  of  Athens  were  wrong.  And  so  are  the  men 
of  today  wrong  who  teach  the  natural  theology  of  those  pagan 
Greeks  as  the  second  book  given  to  us  by  God.  And  in  the  name 
of  God's  Son,  whom  Paul  served,  we  call  upon  them  to  repent — 
to  repent  before  it  is  everlastingly  too  late. 

But  may  we  not  be  mistaken  in  stating  that  the  theological 
professors  and  their  text-books  today  teach  these  pagan  proofs 
of  the  existence  of  the  gods  as  Natural  Theology?  Let  us 
see.  Samuel  Harris,  D.  D.  LL.  D.,  sometime  Professor  of  Syste- 
matic Theology  in  the  Theological  Department  of  Yale  College, 
says  in  his  work  on  Theism,  "Nature  is  the  seeming  obstacle, 
impact  on  which  strikes  out  all  aglow  the  hitherto  hidden  spark 
of  reason  and  kindles  the  divine  light  within  the  man,  which  at 
once  reveals  his  reason  to  himself,  reveals  nature  to  his  reason, 
and  discloses  both  in  the  natural  and  the  moral  systems,  the 
steps  up  to  God." — Page  385. 

Here  we  have  Natural  Theology  in  a  nutshell,  and  well 
might  we  heed  Paul's  advice  to  the  Corinthians,  "Take  heed 
lest  there  shall  be  any  one  that  maketh  spoil  of  you  through  his 
philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the 
rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ  (2:8.)  Where  did 
Professor  Harris  get  his  ideas?  Hear  him  again,  page  1,  "The 
knowledge  of  God  begins  in  experience";  and  on  page  153,  he 
says:  "When  we  grasp  the  fact  that  in  intutition  we  have  pos- 
itive knowledge  of  self  and  external  being   and  of  universal 


—14— 

principles  of  reason,  we  necessarily  come  to  the  Platonic  posi- 
tion that  the  necessary  forms  of  thought  are  the  forms  of 
things, "  we  grasp  in  its  true  significance  the  principle  which 
has  given  to  Platonism  its  perennial  life,  that  the  truths  of  rea- 
son are  at  once  the  laws  of  thought  and  the  archetypal  forms  of 
all  existence.  Again  he  says:  "We  may  well  agree  with  Aris- 
totle that  they  who  forsake  the  nature  of  things  or  self-evident 
principles,  will  not  find  any  surer  basis  on  which  to  build." — 
ibid  p.  122.  Again  he  says:  "The  truths  of  reason  have  to 
us  objective  reality  as  principles  and  laws  of  things,  because 
they  are,  as  already  set  forth,  constituent  elements  of  rationali- 
ty eternal  in  the  absolute  and  supreme  Reason.  This  accords 
with  the  Platonic  philosophy,  modified  as  it  necessarily  must  be 
by  Christian  Theism."— ibid  p.  182. 

Think  of  it,  reader,  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  a  polytheist, 
who  lived  600  years  before  Christ,  modified  of  necessity  by  the 
Christian  Theism  of  Dr.  Harris,  is  the  refined  theology  that 
students  once  received  at  Yale  College. 

Again,  Prof.  Harris  says,  p.  183,  "Plato  recognizes  tlie  prin- 
ciple of  reason  as  the  remembrance  of  what  the  soul  saw  in 
some  former  state  of  existence  when  in  company  with  God— 
Phaedrus  249."  "So  in  speaking  of  Anaxagoras,  Aristotle  said 
that  'the  men  who  first  announced  that  Reason  was  the  cause 
of  the  world  and  of  all  orderly  arrange m.ent  in  nature  no  less 
than  in  living  bodies,  appeared  like  a  man  in  his  sober  vsenses  in 
comparison  with  those  who  before  had  been  speaking  at  random 
and  in  the  dark  (ibid  p.  184).'  The  doctrine  that  law  is  the 
Reason  and  is  not  the  creation  of  will  is  as  old  in  philosophy  as 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  who,  however  they  differed  in  other  respects, 
agree  in  recognizing  the  supremacy  of  reason  and  the  depend- 
ence of  moral  distinctions  on  it.  In  the  Euthyphro,  Socrates 
says  that  a  quality  or  act  'is  loved  by  the  gods  because  it  is  holy, 
it  is  not  holy  because  it  is  loved  by  the  Gods  {ibid  p.  196).' 
'The  only  philosophy  consistent  alike  with  reason,  with  theism 
and  with  Christianity  is  that  of  Augustine,  following  Plato 
which  recognizes  truth  and  law  as  eternal  in  God,  the  supreme 
and  absolute  reason  (ibid  p.  197).'  " 

It  may  be,  I  may  add  in  passing,  that  the  only  philosophy 
consistent  with  reason,  theism  and  Christianity  is  that  of  Au- 


—15— 

gustine,  following  Plato,  since  Augustine  never  dreamed  of  Dr. 
Harris'  Theism,  nor  Plato  of  either  theism,  Augustine  or  Chris- 
tianity. 

In  an  address  delivered  by  J.  A.  Garfield  before  the  literary 
societies  of  Hiram  College,  June,  1867,  he  says:  "The  Christian 
minister's  principal  text-book  is  a  divine  and  perfect  revelation. 
There  is  no  department  of  his  duties  in  which  he  does  not  need 
the  fullest  and  the  latest  knowledge.  He  is  pledged  to  the  de- 
fense of  revelation  and  religion ;  but  it  will  not  avail  him  to  be 
able  to  answer  the  objections  of  Hume  and  Voltaire.  The  argu- 
ments of  Paley  were  not  written  to  answer  the  skepticisms  of  to- 
day. His  Natural  Theology  is  now  less  valuable  than  Hugh 
Miller's  Footprints  of  the  Creator,  or  Guyot's  lectures  on  'Earth 
and  Man.'  " 

Note  by  J.  W.  McGarvey:  "On  the  point  of  universal  in- 
spiration, I  maintain  that  there  have  been  men  in  ages  and  of 
all  races  especially  endowed  with  spiritual  vision,  so  that  they 
have  discerned  the  truth."  (He  specifies  Socrates,  Plato,  Eob- 
ertson,  Martineau  and  Phillips  Brooks,  saying  of  the  latter 
three  that  they  have  been  prophets  in  their  own  day.) 

This  is  no  improvement  on  his  first  utterance  respecting  uni- 
versal inspiration ;  for  one  of  these  inspired  men,  Socrates,  of- 
fered a  chicken  cock  to  Esculapius  in  his  dying  hour;  Robert- 
son's teaching  bordered  closely  on  rationalism ;  Martineau  was  a 
Unitarian;  and  Phillips  Brooks  was  a  sprinkler  of  babies.  A 
pretty  kettle  of  fish  to  be  held  up  as  inspired  prophets !  And 
then,  these  men  represent  only  two  races  of  men ;  where  are  the 
inspired  men  of  the  Hottentots,  the  Patagonians,  the  Fiji 
Islanders,  and  the  other  races? 

In  the  Memoirs  of  A.  Campbell,  vol.  2,  p.  229,  it  is  recorded: 
"He  had  received,  in  July,  1826,  a  letter  from  a  young  man  who 
had  been  a  Methodist,  but  failing  to  realize  after  a  long  travail, 
the  spiritual  change  he  had  been  taught  to  expect,  became  at 
length  doubtful  as  to  the  truth  of  revealed  religion.  This  letter 
Mr.  Campbell  published,  and  went  on  in  a  series  of  admirable 
replication  designed  for  the  benefit  of  skeptics  in  general  to 
meet  and  remove  the  supposed  obstacles  to  belief  suggested  by 
his  correspondent.  Mr.  Campbell  had  long  been  convinced  that 
in  schools  of  theology  of  every  kind,  the  Bible  had  been  syste- 


—16— 

matically  deprived  of  its  true  glory  and  authority,  and  human 
reason  under  the  guise  of  natural  theology  substituted  in  its 
place.  The  popular  notion  that  nature  revealed  the  idea  of  God, 
he  thought  originated  in  men's  beginning  to  reason  vfith  the 
idea  already  in  their  minds,  and  finally  imagining  that  they  had 
acquired  it  by  reasoning.  All  that  the  Book  of  Nature  teach- 
es is  that  every  animal  and  vegetable  is  dependent  on  its  own 
kind  for  its  production.  The  whole  volume  does  not  afford  a 
model  or  archetype  for  an  idea  of  any  animal  or  plant  being  de- 
pendent on  any  other  of  a  different  nature  and  kind  for  its  pro- 
duction. You  leap  over  the  distance  from  earth  to  heaven  in 
your  reasoning ;  or  rather  you  fledge  yourself  with  the  wings  of 
faith  and  find  in  the  Bible  the  idea  of  all  things  being  depend- 
ent on  a  Being  unlike  any  other,  who  produces  no  being  like  him- 
self, contrary  to  your  analogy  from  the  Book  of  Nature,  and  who 
produces  all  beings  both  unlike  himself  and  one  another.  You 
flew  so  nimbly  and  so  easily  over  this  mighty  gulf  that  you  were 
not  conscious  that  you  had  got  out  of  the  region  of  earth-born 
ideas  altogether,  and  were  farther  than  all  space  from  the  vol- 
ume of  Nature  which  you  sat  down  to  read All  the  deaf 

and  dumb  who  have  been  made  to  hear  and  speak,  or  who  have 
been  taught  to  communicate  their  ideas,  have  uniformly  and 
universally  declared  that  an  idea  of  a  God,  or  anything  under 
that  name,  never  entered  their  minds.  This  is  decisive  proof 
that  the  knowledge  of  God  enters  the  human  mind  by  the  ear, 
or  by  communication,  verbal  or  written.  Finally,  I  contend 
that  no  man,  by  all  senses  and  powers  of  reason  which  he  posses- 
es,  with  all  the  data  before  him  which  the  material  universe 
affords,  can  originate  or  beget  in  his  own  mind,  the  idea  of  a 
God  in  the  true  sense  of  that  word.  But  as  soon  as  the  idea  of 
Diety  is  suggested  to  the  mind,  everything  within  us  and  with- 
out us,  attests,  bears  testimony  to  and  demonstrates  the  exist- 
ence and  attributes  of  such  a  Being." 


—17— 

CHAPTER    II 
Was  Socrates  a  Christian  Before  Christ? 

(Socrates'  divine  monitor  was  the  Spirit  of  Christ  speaking-  to  his  soul.— 
Biblical  World.) 

A  book  entitled  "The  Gospel  in  Pagan  Religions,"  written 
after  the  World's  Congress  of  Religions  at  Chicago,  says:  "Paul 
declared  the  unknown  God  whom  the  Athenians  ignorantly 
worshipped  to  be  the  true  God." — p.  72,  73;  (see  also  Ten  Great 
Religions,  p.  10,  11.) 

But  let  us  examine  this  text  (Acts  17:2.3)  more  closely,  and 
the  context  less  superficially.  It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence 
that  Paul  here  repeats,  "Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  worship, 
him  declare  I  unto  j'ou,"  the  same  idea  our  Lord  expressed  to 
the  Samaritan  woman,  "Ye  worship  ye  know  not  what;  we  know 
whom  we  worship,  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews."  Now  the  Samar- 
itans taught  their  people  the  Mosaic  ritual,  had  a  rival  temple 
on  Mount  Gerizim,  claimed  descent  from  the  patriarchs  and  a 
share  in  the  promises;  in  fact,  had  adopted  the  Pentateuch  and 
the  books  of  Joshua  and  Judges  as  their  sacred  books,  and  ex- 
pected the  Messiah.  If,  then,  it  could  be  said  of  any  people  oth- 
er than  the  Jews  that  they  worshipped  the  true  God,  we  would 
naturally  expect  this  to  be  said  of  the  Samaritans;  but  Jesus 
himself  declares  unto  them,  "Ye  worship  ye  know  not  what." 

On  the  other  hand,  all  true  Greeks  had  worshipful  regard  for 
the  twelve  great  gods  of  the  Olympic  pantheon,  the  three  graces, 
the  nine  muses,  the  three  fates,  the  furies,  and  an  endless  varie- 
ty of  nymphs,  the  local  and  lesser  deities  of  sea  and  forest, 
fountain  and  stream.  They  loved  their  favorite  gods  with  all 
the  fervor  bestowed  on  earthly  friends.  If,  then,  it  could  be 
said  of  any  people.  Gentiles  in  the  flesh,  that  they  knew  not  God 
but  did  service  unto  them  which  by  nature  are  not  gods,  that 
people  were  the  Greeks,  but  the  writer  mentioned  above  asserts 
that  "their  worship  was  the  real  worship  of  the  true  God, 
though  they  were  ignorant  of  His  name." 

Paul  begins  his  address  by  challenging  his  audience  with 
two  serious  charges — superstition  and  ignorance.  Rev.  Ernst 
Faber,  in  writing  "A  Guide  to  our  Mission  Work  in  Asia",  says: 
"They  were  superstitious  because  their  religious  service  was  not 


—18— 

to  God  (theos),  but  to  the  demons  (daimonion).  Compare  I  Cor, 
10:20,  where  Paul  says,  ''The  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrificej 
they  sacrifice  to  devils  and  not  to  God."  Though  the  word  de- 
mon has  in  Greek  not  always  a  bad  meaning,  it  is  never  used  in  a 
good  sense  in  the  New  Testament.  Fearing  the  demons  was  cer- 
tainly nothing  but  superstition  in  the  eyes  of  both  Paul  and  the 
writer  of  the  Acts.  And  from  my  own  observation,  1  may  add 
that  worship  in  China  seems  to  be  prompted  more  by  fear  of 
devils  than  by  the  soul's  love  of  devotion.  Superstition  indi- 
cates false  religious  practice ;  ignorance  signifies  absence  of  high- 
er religious  truth.  One  is  as  culpable  as  the  other.  Religious 
ignorance  (agnoia,  agnosticism)  is  as  much  the  root  as  the  fruit 
of  superstition.  It  is  sin,  for  it  is  chronic  estrangement  from 
God,  who  is  hidden  even  from  the  higher  mental  faculties. 

As  to  their  worshipping  in  ignorance,  Paul  in  effect  says: 
"As  I  passed  along  your  streets,  I  beheld  an  altar  with  the  in- 
scription, 'to  an  unknown  god'.  You  are  certainly  not  want- 
ing in  known  objects  of  devotion,  but  to  have  this  unknown  one 
is  indeed  worshipping  in  ignorance.  By  its  very  inscription  you 
confess  that  you  do  not  know  who  or  where  or  what  it  is.  Now 
there  is  a  God,  unknown  to  you,  whom  I  wish  to  declare.  He  is 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth ;  He  made  all  things,  and  He  gives  us 
life  and  breath.  He  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  and 
you  and  I  are  thus  His  offspring.  Alas  you  do  not  know  Him  ! 
If  you  did,  you  would  not  think  He  is  like  a  piece  of  gold  or  sil- 
ver or  stone  graven  by  man,  nor  would  your  hands  try  to  make 
temples  for  His  indwelling.  You  would  know  that  He  needs 
nothing  from  you,  but  that  you  need  everything  from  Him. 
The  times  of  your  ignorance  he  has  overlooked,  but  now  com- 
mandeth  men  everywhere  to  repent.  For  He  has  appointed  a 
day  in  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  by  his 
Son  Jesus,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead."  But  Paul  got  no 
farther.  Unlike  the  Samaritan  woman,  these  learned  men 
mocked,  or,  anxious  to  get  away,  politely  said,  "We  will  hear 
you  again." 

Whom  Tlierefore  Ye  Ignorantly  Worship.  Religious  worship  is 
here  seen  to  be  of  two  kinds:  (1)  the  true;  (2)  the  false.  The 
former  we  know  is  the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth ; 
the  latter,  then,  must  be  any  departure  tlierefrom.    The  source 


—19— 

of  all  true  worship  is  the  revelation  of  God's  will  to  man:  the 
temptation  of  Satan  is  the  starting-point  of  all  the  false,  Man 
changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  but  back  of  man  was  Satan, 
the  father  of  liars.  True  worshippers  conform  to  God's  will  in 
acts  of  devotion  as  well  as  of  service ;  the  false  worship  they 
know  not  what.  True  religion  is  from  above,  and  cometh  down 
from  the  Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness  neither 
shadow  of  turning.  False  religions  are  man's  counterfeits  of  the 
true.  That  which  is  true  came  first :  after  this,  the  counterfeit 
of  the  true,  "gods  of  the  foreigner."— Josh.  24:14,  15.  God 
made  man  upright,  but  he  has  sought  out  many  inventions. 

The  writer  of  Ten  Great  Religions  asserts  that  "all  the  re- 
ligions of  the  earth  are  providential,  and  all  tend  to  benefit  man- 
kind," (p.  6) ;  that  "each  one  is  a  step  in  the  religious  progress  of 
the  races,  and  a  schoomaster  to  bring  men  to  Christ,"  (p.  3) ;  and 
again,  that  "Greek  science  and  Greek  philosophy  were  a  prepara- 
tion for  Christianity"  (p.  490.)  But  Rev.  D.  Z.  Sheffield,  for 
many  years  a  missionary  in  China,  testifies  that  "other  religions 
have  nothing  to  add  to  Christianity.  Christianity  is  not  indebt- 
ed to  Pantheism  for  its  doctrine  of  the  Divine  immanence,  but 
has  taught  this  doctrine  from  the  beginning,  safeguarding  the 
related  truth  of  the  personality  of  God  by  teaching  also  His 
transcendence  above  the  universe  of  His  creation.  Neither  is 
Christianity  indebted  to  polytheism  for  the  doctrine  of  the  near- 
ness of  God  to  His  creatures  and  His  desire  to  come  into  a  living 
fellowship  with  them.  This  doctrine  is  the  very  heart  of  the 
Christian  system,  and  the  end  of  the  Divine  activity  is  to  make 
this  truth  real  in  every  human  heart.  Polytheism,  so  far  from 
creating  these  religious  cravings,  has  given  to  them  only  a  dis- 
torted and  deranged  ministry.  The  Confucian  scholar  in  accept- 
ing Christianity  leaves  behind  him  the  worship  of  nature,  of  an- 
cestors, of  sages,  in  which  he  has  been  trained,  and  turns  with  a 
new  heart  to  offer  an  undivided  worship  to  the  Author  of  nature, 
the  Giver  of  life,  and  the  Director  of  life's  destinies." — (Chinese 
Recorder,  March,  1903.) 

"Paul  showed  himself  able  and  willing  at  other  places,"  says 
Rev.  Ernst  Faber,  "to  acknowledge  what  is  good  among  heathen, 
but  in  addressing  the  Athenian  philosophers,  he  did  not  even  al- 
lude to  any  excellence  on  their  part,  much  less  take  the  similari- 


—20— 

ties  between  them  as  his  basis.  He  did  not  enter  into  any  provi- 
dential preparation  of  the  Greek  nation  for  the  gospel,  though 
he  might  have  done  so.  The  sublime  truth  of  their  metaph5'sics 
in  the  teachings  of  Socrates  and  writings  of  Plato,  the  logical 
exactness  of  Aristotle  and  his  schools,  the  mathematical  acumen 
of  Euclid  and  Pythagaros,  the  inimitable  beauty  of  their  fine 
arts — all  these  and  many  others  could  have  been  said  in  favor  of 
and  to  please  the  audience.  Paul,  however,  remained  strictly 
on  religious  ground,  and  his  line  of  argumentation  was  as  direct 
and  striking  as  possible.  He  ignored  altogether  Epicureans  and 
Stoics  and  spoke  to  men,  to  men  that  showed  religious  wants." 
— "Paul  in  Europe." 

To  understand  more  clearly  the  position  of  the  Greeks 
in  the  heathen  world,  let  us  divide  the  counterfeit  religions  into 
two  classes: 

1.  Those  perversions  of  the  true  invented  by  the  prodigals 
who  purposely  strayed,  yet  knew  the  way  back, — see  Mohammed- 
anism. Mohammed  derived  his  knowledge  of  God  from  Jewish 
and  Christian  sources,  but  the  conception  of  the  character  of 
God  is  seriously  mutiliated  in  his  teachings. 

2.  The  religions  of  those  who  failing  to  find  their  way  back, 
became  lost,  and  so  continued  the  counterfeit  worship  to  which 
they  were  accustomed,  adding  from  time  to  time  whatever  their 
fears  or  caprices  prompted  or  their  conquerors  compelled.  In 
this  way,  have  arisen  all  the  so-called  natural  or  ethnic  religions. 
Though  lost,  these  people  still  inherited  the  knowledge  from 
and  about  God  in  their  folk-lore,  customs  and  literature,  but 
which  each  year  became  more  obscure  and  corrupted  by  admix- 
tures of  their  own.  Some  of  their  philosophers,  like  Socrates, 
groping  in  the  dark  mass  of  this  accumulated  rubbish,  find  now 
and  then  some  of  these  empty  word  fragments  of  truth,  but 
they  are  utterly  unable  to  trace  them  back  to  their  source  or  re- 
fill them  with  their  original  content  and  power. 

It  might  be  profitable  just  here  to  devote  a  little  time  to  the 
famous  philosopher,  Socrates,  inasmuch  as  he  has  been  so  mis- 
represented by  his  present-day  rationalistic  admirers.  It  may 
also  lead  to  the  correction  of  many  sentimental  effusions  put 
forth  in  books  on  Comparative  Religion,  Natural  Theology,  The 
Light  of  Asia,  and  otlier  kindred  works. 


—21— 

There  are  two  ways  of  determining  the  meaning  of  Socrates ; 
one  is  to  take  his  words  at  their  value  when  expressed,  and  the 
other  as  interpreted  in  the  lives  and  writings  of  his  disciples. 
Using  both  of  these  methods,  that  Socrates'  theogony  is  Polythe- 
istic and  not  monotheistic,  is  seen: 

1.  From  his  words  in  prayer.  He  closes  a  discourse  with 
Phaedr us  at  the  fountain  of  the  nymphs  as  follows:  "Ought 
we  not  to  go  after  we  have  prayed  to  the  gods?  O  beloved  Pan ! 
and  all  ye  other  gods  of  this  place  !  grant  me  to  become  beautiful 
in  the  inner  man,  and  that  whatever  outward  things  I  have,  may 
be  at  peace  with  those  within.  May  1  deem  the  wise  man  rich, 
and  may  I  have  such  a  portion  of  gold  as  none  but  a  prudent 
man  can  either  bear  or  employ.  Do  we  need  anything  else, 
Phaedrus?    For  myself,  I  have  prayed  enough." 

Here  Socrates  prays  to  many  gods  (see  also  Phaedo,  153.) 
And  if  it  is  true  that  as  a  man  prays  so  he  believes,  then  that  to 
which  he  prays  may  fairly  be  taken  as  the  object  of  his  faith. 
Passing  by  "all  his  other  gods"  for  the  moment,  let  us  inquire, 
Who  is  this  god  Pan  to  whom  he  prays?  McClintock  &  Strong's 
Encyclopedia  says: 

"Pan  is  the  name  of  the  chief  god  of  pastures,  forests  and 
flocks  among  the  ancient  Greeks.  The  later  rationalizing  myth- 
ologists,  misconceiving  the  meaning  of  the  name,  which  they 
confounded  with  'the  whole'  or  'the  universe,'  represented  him 
as  a  personification  of  the  universe,  but  there  is  absolutely  noth- 
ing in  the  myth  to  warrant  such  a  notion.  He  was  a  son  of 
Hermes  (Mercury)  by  the  daughter  of  Dryops.  He  is  represented 
with  horns  and  goat's  beard  and  crooked  nose,  pointed  ears  and 
tail  and  goat's  feet."  Was  it  prayer  to  this  god  that  led  the  writ- 
er in  Biblical  World  to  call  Socrates  a  Christian  before  Christ? 

2.  From  his  expressed  belief  in  the  gods.  When  accused  by 
Melitus  for  not  believing  in  the  gods,  Socrates  replied:  "This 
is  far  from  being  the  case,  for  I  believe,  O  Athenians,  as  none  of 
my  accusers  do. "  And  in  the  Apology  of  Socrates,  15,  he  says: 
"Since  then  I  allow  that  there  are  demons,  as  you  admit, 
if  demons  are  a  kind  of  gods— children  of  gods,  spurious  ones, 
either  from  nymps  or  any  others, — what  man  can  think  that 
there  are  sons  of  gods,  and  yet  that  there  are  not  gods?" 

From  the  above  citations,  we  see  that  Socrates  believed  not 


—22— 

only  in  ^ods  but  in  demons  also,  and  prayed  to  Pan  and  all  the 
other  gods.  How,  then,  can  any  writer,  historian  or  theologian, 
say  that  Socrates  was  a  Christian  before  Christ?  Christ  himself 
says:     "The  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord." 

3.  From  his  account  of  the  life  of  the  gods.  In  Gorgias  166, 
Socrates  says:  "What  I  am  about  to  tell  you,  I  tell  you  as  being 
true.  As  Homer  says  (Iliad  XV,  187)  then,  Jupiter,  ^Neptune 
and  Pluto  divided  the  government  among  themselves,  after  they 
had  received  it  from  their  father."  And  in  Phaedrus  55:  "The 
mighty  chief  in  heaven,  Jupiter,  goes  first,  driving  a  winged 
chariot,  ordering  and  taking  care  of  all  things :  and  there  follows 
him  a  host  of  gods  and  demons,  distributed  into  eleven  divisions, 
for  Vesta  remains  alone  in  the  dwelling  of  the  gods ;  but  of  the 
others,  all  that  have  been  assigned  a  station  as  chief  gods  in 
the  number  of  the  twelve,  lead  in  the  order  to  which  they  have 
been  severally  appointed.  (59)  And  on  its  return,  the  charioteer, 
having  taken  his  horses  to  the  manger,  sets  ambrosia  before 
them,  and  afterwards  gives  them  nectar  to  drink.  And  this  is 
the  life  of  the  gods." 

4.  From  the  source  whence  his  knowledge  came.  In  Phae- 
drus 133,  Socrates  says:  "I  can  tell  you  a  story  I  have  heard  of 
the  ancients— that  at  Naucratis  in  Egypt,  there  was  one  of  the 
ancient  gods  of  that  country  to  whom  was  consecrated  the  bird 
which  they  call  Ibis  .  .  when  Thamus  was  king  of  all  Egypt, 
and  dwelt  in  the  great  city  of  the  upper  region,  which  the 
Greeks  call  Egyptian  Thebes,  but  the  god  they  call  Ammon." 
McClintock  &  Strong  say  that  the  worship  to  the  different  func- 
tions of  Pan  is  derived  from  the  mythology  of  the  ancient  Egyp- 
tians. 

All  this  suggests  Egypt  as  the  origin.  Socrates  himself  says 
he  got  it  through  the  ancient  sages,  Homer  and  others.  Like 
Confucius,  he  does  not  claim  to  be  an  originator  but  a  transmit- 
ter. What  he  tells  about  Homer,  he  tells  as  being  true  (Gorgias 
166),  but  says  there  is  an  ancient  purification  for  those  who  of- 
fend in  matters  relating  to  mythology,  which  Homer  was  not 
acquainted  with,  but  Stesichorus  was  .  .  .  recantation."— Phae- 
drus 44. 

In  Protagaras  20-22,  he  says:  "That  I  am  a  sophist,  I  con- 
fess rather  than  deny.    The  art  of  a  sophist  is  ancient,  but  the 


—23— 

men  who  professed  it  in  ancient  times,  fearing  the  odium  at- 
tached to  it,  sought  to  conceal  it  and  veiled  it  over;  some  under 
the  garb  of  po'etry  as  Homer,  Hesiod  and  Simonides;  and  others 
under  that  of  mysteries  and  prophecies,  such  as  Orpheus  and 
Musaeus,  and  their  followers ;  and  some,  I  perceive,  have  veiled  it 
under  the  gymnastic  art,  as  Iccus  of  Tarentum,  but  your  own 
Agathocles  concealed  it  under  the  garb  of  music,  as  did  Pytho- 
clides  of  Ceos,  and  many  others." 

Knowing  the  source  of  Socrates'  knowledge,  we  are  now  pre- 
pared to  read  and  appreciate  at  their  full  value  some  fragmentary 
forms  of  former  truth  transmitted  by  him.  He  makes  himself 
stand  forth  in  the  light  by  saying  that  "the  generality  of  men 
appear  to  be  fumbling,  as  it  were,  in  the  dark."  He  believes  in 
life  hereafter  rather  than  annihilation  (Phaedo  68) ;  that  our  soul 
is  immortal  (Phaedo  145) ;  that  to  offer  violence  to  one's  mother 
or  father  is  not  holy  (Crito  12) ;  that  temperance  consists  in  not 
being  carried  away  by  the  passions,  (Phaedo  35) ;  that  the 
committal  of  murder  is  unrighteous  (Phaedo  131) ;  that  temper- 
ance, justice,  fortitude,  freedom  and  truth  are  the  proper  orna- 
ments to  adorn  the  soul  (Phaedo  146) ;  that  intemperate  desires 
cause  a  man  to  live  like  a  robber  (Gorgias  135) ;  and  that  death  is 
the  separation  of  the  soul  and  body  (Gorgias  168.)"  The  saddest 
thought  of  all  is  that  these  "nuggets  of  truth"  were,  in  his  time 
jind  country,  like  the  dynamo  disconnected  from  its  power  house 
— lifeless,  dead. 

5.  From  his  definition  of  "god"  and  use  of  the  word.  Soc- 
rates, concept  of  "god,"  as  expressed  in  Phaedrus  55  is:  "As  we 
neither  see  nor  sufficiently  understand  god,  we  represent  bim  as 
an  immortal  animal  posssessed  of  soul  and  possessed  of  body, 
and  these  united  throughout  all  time."  This  definition  shows 
us  the  first  use,  viz: 

(a)  To  express  characteristics  common  to  all  gods.  When 
Socrates,  then,  uses  the  word  "god"  in  the  singular  form,  he 
simply  has  in  mind  an  imaginary  animal  possessed  of  soul  and 
body  forever  united.  In  other  words,  he  means  that  a  god,  any 
god,  eve't-y  god  has  these  common  characteristics ;  that  the  god 
Apollo  is  possessed  of  soul  and  body  throughout  all  time ;  so  is 
Pan ;  so  are  all  the  gods.  In  Phaedo  16,  Socrates  says:  "The 
gods  take  care  of  us,  and  we  men  are  one  of  their  possessions," 


—24— 

and  Cebes  replies,  ''It  is  god  who  takes  care  of  us,  and  we  are  his 
property."  It  is  evident  that  the  word  "god"  is  here  used  in  a 
collective  sense  interchangeably  with  "the  gods,"  the  same  as 
when  we  say  "Man  is  mortal"  meaning  that  "all  men  are  mor- 
tal" ;  or  when  Socrates  himself  says:  "God  is  an  immortal  ani- 
mal", he  distinctly  specifies  that  immortality  is  a  characteristic 
of  all  gods, — that  every  god  is  immortal  as  every  man  is  mortal. 
An  impartial  historian  should  not,  then,  lead  a  present-day 
student  to  believe  that  Socrates  had  in  mind  the  same  idea  or 
ideas  that  our  word  "God"  immediately  suggests  to  our  mind. 
Already  too  much  of  the  stale  religions  of  the  past  has  been 
translated  into  present-day  language  by  present-day  dictionaries. 
Socrates'  dialogues  should  be  interpreted  by  aid  of  dictionaries 
accessible  to  students  in  Socrates'  time. 

Although  Socrates  speaks  of  no  greater  good  ever  befalling 
the  city  of  Athens  than  his  zeal  for  the  service  of  the  god ;  that 
he  composed  a  hymn  to  the  god  whose  festival  was  present 
(Phaedo  10),  and  that  he  is  moved  by  a  certain  divine  and  spirit- 
ual influence  which  began  with  liim  from  childhood  as  a  kind  of 
voice  (Apol.  of  Soc.  19),  yet  further  on  he  discloses  how  the  deity 
enjoined  on  him  this  duty — by  oracles,  by  dreams,  and  by  every 
mode  by  which  any  other  divine  decree  ever  enjoined  anything 
to  men  to  do ;  and  finally  in  Crito  6,  reveals  the  real  arbiter  of 
his  life  and  actions  thus:  "For  I  not  only  now,  but  always,  am 
a  person  who  will  obey  nothing  within  me  but  reason,  according 
as  it  appears  to  me,  on  mature  deliberation,  to  be  best."  Not  so 
with  Peter  who  could  not  but  speak  the  things  which  he  had 
seen  and  heard  of  another — of  Jesus. 

"I  laying  down  the  reason,"  says  Socrates,  "which  I  deem  to 
be  the  strongest,  whatever  things  appear  to  me  to  accord  with 
this  I  regard  as  true."  Phaedo  111.  'Come,  then,  ye  muses,  as- 
sist me  in  the  tale.  My  dear  Phaedrus,  do  I  appear  to  you,  as  I 
do  to  myself,  to  be  moved  by  some  divine  influence?  Listen  to 
me,  then,  in  silence,  for  the  place  appears  to  be  divine.  If, 
therefore,  in  the  progress  of  my  speech,  I  should  be  frequently 
entranced  by  the  genius  of  the  spot,  you  must  not  be  surprised. 
But  hear  the  rest,  for  perhaps  the  attack  of  the  trance  may  be 
averted,  though  this  will  be  the  care  of  the  deity.  Do  you  not 
know  that  I   shall  be  thrown  into  an  ecstasy  by  the  nymphs? 


—25— 

When  I  was  about  to  cross  the  river,  the  divine  and  wonted  sig- 
nal was  given  me,  and  I  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  from  this  very 
spot.  Somehow,  I  was  cast  down  (as  Ibycus  says),  for  fear  I 
siiould  offend  tlie  gods,  and  gain  honor  from  men  in  exchange. 
But  now  the  greatest  blessings  we  have,  spring  from  madness, 
when  granted  by  divine  bounty.  For  the  prophetess  at  Delphi 
and  the  Priestesses  at  Dodona  have,  when  mad,  done  many  and 
noble  services  for  Greece,  both  privately  and  publicly,  but  in 
their  sober  senses  little  or  nothing."— Phaedrus  29,  32,  41  and  47. 

The  divine  influence  moving  Socrates,  then,  which  in  Theae- 
tetus  21  he  calls  a  demon,  ("the  demon  that  attends  me  prevents 
me  from  associating  with  some,  but  with  others  it  allows  me," — 
Theaetetus  21;  "Socrates'  divine  monitor  was  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  speaking  to  his  soul,"— The  Biblical  World),  is  but  his 
own  reason,  merely  this  and  nothing  more,  and  agrees  with  his- 
tory when  it  says:  "The  religion  of  the  Greeks  allowed  them  to 
think  what  they  would,  and  to  do  what  they  chose.  They  made 
their  gods  to  suit  themselves,  and  regarded  them  as  companions 
rather  than  as  objects  of  reverence."  Heraclitus  says:  "Men 
are  mortal  gods  and  the  gods  immortal  men."  So  that  whether 
in  the  singular  or  plural  form  Socrates  used  the  word  "theos" 
(god),  it  is  plain  that  he  was  ignorant  alike  of  the  God  whom 
Paul  preached,  Socrates  himself  being  judge,  for  he  says  in 
Theaetetus  140,  "He  who  is  not  able  to  give  and  receive  an  ex- 
planation of  a  thing  must  be  ignorant  of  that  thing,"  and  furth- 
er states  (ibid  121)  how  it  is  possible  to  know  false  gods  and  never 
think  of  the  true  God,  as  follows:  "I  know  one  of  you,  and  not 
knowing  the  other,  and  perceiving  neither,  should  never  think 
that  he  whom  I  know  is  the  person  whom  I  do  not  know." 

(b)  Said  of  his  favorite  god,  or  a  certan  deity.  Socrates 
nowhere  limits  the  number  of  gods.  He  has  his  favorite,  as  did 
most  of  the  Greeks.  Swans  belonging  to  Apollo,  are  prophetic 
....  but  I,  too,  consider  myself  to  be  a  fellow-servant  of  the 
swans,  and  sacred  to  the  same  god."  (Phaedo  77.)  Socrates  is 
not  so  selfish  as  to  think  that  he  alone  is  favored  and  that  his 
friend  Phaedrus  has  no  favorite  god.  Phaedrus  72— And  by  en- 
deavoring to  discover  of  themselves  the  nature  of  their  own 
deity,  they  succeed  by  being  compelled  to  look  steadfastly  on 
their  god ;  and  when  they  grasp  him  with  their  memory,  being 


—26'— 

inspired  by  him,  they  receive  from  him  their  manners  and  pur- 
suits, so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  man  to  participate  of  deity.  73 — 
And  such  as  attend  Apollo,  and  each  of  the  other  gods,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  their  several  deities,  desire  that  their  favor- 
ite may  have  a  corresponding  character;  and  w^hen  they  have 
gained  such  a  one,  both  by  imitation  on  their  own  part,  and  by 
pursuading  and  alluring  their  favorite,  they  lead  him  to  the  pe- 
culiar pursuit  and  character  of  that  god.  78 — Since  then  he  is 
worshipped  with  all  observance  as  if  he  were  a  god,  not  by  a 
lover,  who  feigns  the  passion,  but  who  really  feels  it,  and  since 
he  is  by  nature  inclined  to  friendship,  he  directs  his  affection  to 
accord  with  that  of  his  worshipper. 

6.  From  his  last  words.  In  Phaedo  153,  Socrates'  last 
words  are  thus  recorded:  "But  it  is  certainly  both  lawful  and 
right  to  pray  to  the  gods,  that  my  departure  hence  may  be  hap- 
py ;  which,  therefore,  I  pray,  and  so  may  it  be."  And  as  he  said 
this,  he  drank  it  off  readily  and  calmly. 

7.  The  meaning  of  Socrates'  theogony  as  interpreted  by  the 
lives  and  writings  of  his  disciples. 

The  philosophy  of  Plato  was  the  scientific  completion  of 
that  of  Socrates.  Aristotle  was  a  scholar  of  Plato.  The  Stoics 
and  Epicureans  represent  the  two  opposite  schools  of  practical 
philosophy  which  survived  the  fall  of  higher  speculation  in 
Greece. 

One  of  the  great  events  in  the  history  of  man,  as  well  as  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  situations,  was  when  Paul  stood  on  the 
Areopagus  at  Athens,  carrying  Christianity  into  Europe.  He 
stood  where  Socrates  had  stood  four  hundred  years  before.  And 
what  did  Paul's  eyes  behold  as  the  grand  fruition  of  this  great 
philosopher's  wisdom,  as  exemplified  in  his  disciples?  A  bewil- 
dering multiplicity  of  temples  and  numberless  "idols."  Athens 
was  the  city  of  statues.  There  were  statues  of  Phidias,  and 
Myron  and  Lysicles ;  statues  of  antiquity  and  statues  of  yester- 
day ;  statues  colossal  and  statues  diminutive ;  statutes  of  wood 
and  earthenware  and  stone  and  marble  and  bronze  and  ivory  and 
gold,  in  every  attitude  and  in  all  possible  combinations ;  statues 
starting  from  every  cave  and  standing  like  lines  of  sentinels  in 
every  street.  There  were  more  statues  in  Athens,  says  Pausa- 
nias,  than  in  all  the  rest  of  Greece  put  together,  and  the  number 


—27— 

of  these  idols  would  be  all  the  more  startling  and  even  shocking 
to  Paul,  because  during  the  long  youthful  years  of  his  study  at 
Jerusalem,  he  had  never  seen  so  much  as  one  representation  of 
the  human  form,  and  had  been  trained  to  regard  it  as  apostasy 
to  give  the  faintest  sanction  to  such  violations  of  God's  express 
command."— Farrar's  Life  and  Work  of  St.  Paul,  p.  526. 

No  wonder  Paul's  spirit  was  painfully  stirred  !  Profane  his- 
tory tells  us  that  there  were  30,000  gods  of  different  names  in 
Athens  alone ;  or,  as  Petronius  facetiously  expressed  it,  it  was 
easier  to  find  a  god  than  a  man.  Athens  had  twice  as  many 
sacred  feasts  as  others  had.  To  the  Greeks,  earth  and  air  were 
tilled  with  invisible  spirits,  and  the  sky  was  crowded  with  trans- 
lated heroes — their  own  half-divine  ancestors.  Such  was  the 
state  into  which  the  disciples  of  Socrates  were  found  by  Paul— 
wholly  given  up  to  idolatry,  blinded  by  the  god  Wisdom  of  this 
world,  lost  in  the  ignorance  of  polytheism,  in  bondage  to  the 
prince  and  power  of  the  air. 

Him  declare  I  unto  you.  Paul  preached  unto  them  Jesus  and 
the  resurrection.  At  the  time  of  his  visit,  A.  D.  54,  the  Stoics 
and  Epicureans,— in  fact,  all  the  Athenians  and  strangers, — spent 
their  time  in  nothing  else,  but  either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some  new 
thing.  Long  years  before,  Demosthenes  had  rebuked  his  coun- 
trymen for  their  love  of  constantly  going  about  in  the  market, 
and  asking  one  another,  What  news?  Paul  now  brought  strange 
things  to  their  ears— new  teaching,  of  which  they  did  not  know 
the  meaning.  They  understood  very  well  when  he  pointed  out 
that  they  were  "very  reverent  to  demons  (superstitious) ;  or,  as 
we  would  say  in  China,  much  given  to  the  worship  of  devils. 
But  when  he  would  make  known  that  which  their  altar  inscrip- 
tion said  was  unknown,  they  would  hear  him  at  another  time. 

We  may  well  pause  and  ask,  Why  was  this  one  an  unknown 
god?  They  had  names  for  30,000  others,  why  had  this  one  no 
name?  It  is  sad  to  think,  says  Matthew  Henry,  that  at  Athens, 
a  place  which  was  supposed  to  have  the  monopoly  of  wisdom,  the 
true  God  was  an  unknown  God,  the  only  God  that  was  unknown. 
They  knew  all  about  the  god  of  war,  the  god  of  lightning,  and 
the  god  of  disease ;  why  was  the  particular  function  of  this  god 
unknown  to  them?  Diogenes  Laertius,  who  wrote  about  210  A. 
D.,  says  that  it  originated  with  Epimenides,  nearly  600  B.  C, 


—28— 

who  was  invited  to  Athens  to  deliver  the  city  from  a  pestilence, 
and  took  sheep  of  different  colors  to  the  summit  of  Mars'  Hill, 
and  gave  instructions  to  sacrifice  them  to  the  deities  at  the  base 
of  whose  statues  they  should  lie  down,  but  one  or  more  lay  down 
where  there  was  no  statue,  hence  they  erected  an  altar  to  the 
unknown  god  on  that  spot.  "And  you  may  still  see  at  Athens," 
the  author  continues,  "altars  without  any  inscription  to  a  par- 
ticular deity,  as  memorials  of  the  propitiation  then  made." — 
Fenelon's  Lives  of  the  Ancient  Philosophers,  p.  102. 

We  thus  see  that  though  the  Greeks  had  altars  erected  to 
every  known  power  of  nature,  yet  all  the  gods  worshipped  at 
these  altars  could  not  account  for  some  observed  phenomena, 
and  hence  this  altar  to  an  unknown  god.  They  evidently  con- 
cluded that  there  must  be  some  other  spirit,  and  they  would  be 
safer  in  thus  sacrificing  at  a  venture.  As  they  took  advantage 
of  every  portent  that  might  bring  good  luck,  so  in  this  case, 
they  had  nothing  to  lose  and  all  to  gain  by  trying  to  obtain  the 
favor  of  this  unknown  god  in  the  usual  way  of  beseeching  deities. 

The  author  of  the  dialogue  Philopatris,  by  many  supposed 
to  have  been  written  by  Lucian  about  the  year  170  A.  D.,  has 
the  following  words:  "But  let  us  find  the  unknown  god  of 
Athens,  and  stretching  our  hands  to  heaven,  offer  to  him  our 
praises  and  thanksgiving,"— Lucian  in  Philopatris,  p.  767. 
Heathen  writers  thus  attest  the  fact  that  there  was  such  an  altar 
at  Athens,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  there  was  any  such  any- 
where else,— Handbook  of  Christian  Evidence  by  Scott,  p  225. 
Mark  you,  then,  that  this  is  a  local  god— the  unknown  god  of 
Athens.    (See  also  Philestratus,  Vit.  Apollon  VI,  3.) 

Pausanias,  who  wrote  before  the  end  of  the  second  century, 
in  describing  Athens,  mentions  an  altar  of  Jupiter  Olympus, 
and  adds:  "And  nigh  unto  it  is  an  altar  of  unknown  gods" — B. 
5,  p.  412.  Here  again  a  heathen  writer  testifies  that  the  worship 
at  this  "unknown-god's"  altar  was  polytheistic,  since  it  was  to 
many  gods.  From  the  Greek  view-point,  at  least,  they  never 
thought  their  worship  at  this  altar  (whether  ignorantly  or  oth- 
erwise) was  with  any  more  sincerity  or  greater  desire  to  arrive  at 
something  higher  and  better  than  did  those  who  worshipped  at 
other  altars.  In  fact,  they  worshipped  at  this  altar  primarily 
with  a  sort  of  forlorn  hope  that  something  might  come  of  it.    It 


—29— 

was  the  expectation  of  a  fortune  wheel,  the  alluring-  luck  of 
blind  chance.  I  have  seen  people  in  China  who  worshipped  the 
god  of  smallpox,  and  not  getting  relief,  went  to  San  Lao  Tai  Yie, 
a  god  of  recent  creation — only  15  years  standing— because  it  had 
become  popular.  Heathen  gods  get  their  local  reputation  like 
quack  doctors,  by  the  number  of  cases  they  cure.  If  a  certain 
one  had  a  run  of  luck  in  that  a  number  of  devotees  get  well,  it 
gets  an  increased  patronage ;  if  it  loses  a  number  of  cases  in  suc- 
cession it  may  almost  cease  to  be  worshipped. 

Greek  worship  consisted  of  songs  and  dances,  processions,  li- 
bations, festivals,  dramatic  and  athletic  contests,  and  various 
sacrifices  and  purifications.  We  have  no  information  that  the 
worship  at  the  "unknown-god  altar"  differed  in  any  wise  from 
this.  One  part  of  their  worship  was  the  sacrifices ;  but  Paul  in 
his  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  the  next  door  neighbors  of  the 
Athenians,  as  it  were,  says  that  the  things  which  the  Gentiles 
sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to  devils  and  not  to  God.  How  futile, 
then,  for  any  writer  to  try  to  prove  their  worship  the  real  wor- 
ship of  the  true  God,  and  polytheistic  Socrates  a  Christian  be- 
fore Christ  I 

Paul's  Epicurean  auditors  believed  from  Socrates  that  the 
universe  had  resulted  from  a  chance  combination  of  atoms,  he 
tells  them  that  it  was  created  by  the  God  unknown  to  them. 
They  believed  that  their  many  gods  sat  far  away  beside  their 
thunder,  careless  of  mankind,  he  told  them  that  there  is  but  one 
God  and  we  are  his  children. 

The  Platonists,  who  are  never  mentioned  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, afterwards  attempted  a  fusion  of  Christian  and  heathen 
ideas  in  Neo-Platonism,  which  was  but  a  revival  of  heathenism 
refined  by  Christian  elements.  And  the  mistake  of  present-day 
writers  on  Natural  Theology,  Ethnic  Worship,  and  Comparative 
Religions  lies  in  their  premises.  Instead  of  going  back  to  those 
ancient  peoples  and  accompanying  them  along  the  current  of 
history  through  the  centuries,  giving  their  actual  views  and 
practices,  they  pick  up  fragments  of  their  writings  and  give  the 
words  used  a  meaning  such  as  they  would  have  at  the  present 
time.  This  is  hard  to  avoid,  it  is  true,  for  it  is  admittedly  diffi- 
cult to  divest  oneself  of  preconceived  ideas  and  daily-used  mean- 
ings of  words,  but  it  certainly  is  not  to  give  a  fair   and  unvar- 


—30— 

nished  record  of  events  to  fill  words  of  one  age  with  the  content 
they  have  attained  in  a  much  later  period  of  the  world's  history. 

What  idolaters  intend  to  effect  by  their  multifarious  forms 
of  worship  is  to  gain  favors  from  the  gods.  The  worship  is  thus 
a  sort  of  Oritental  bribery ;  prayer  is  flattery  and  statement  of 
wishes ;  all  is  done  to  move  the  feelings  of  the  god  and  thereby 
gain  the  fulfillment  of  any  desire,  good  or  evil.  Now  idolatry  is 
the  root  of  the  deep  degradation  of  all  nations  devoted  to  it. 
Those  who  write  gratuitous  puffs  such  as  that  Socrates  was  a 
Christian  before  Christ,  having  never  lived  among  idolaters,  can- 
not realize  the  depravity  of  manners  and  moral  sentiment  pre- 
vailing, and  the  darkness  hanging  over  their  intellects.  The 
sentimental  idea  of  discovering  even  in  idolatry  something  true, 
which  should  be  acknowledged  and  taken  as  a  basis  from  which 
to  develop  higher  truths,  may  be  pleasing  to  these  professors  in 
their  study,  but  it  is  useless  in  practical  work  among  idolatrous 
people.  The  word  of  God,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
has  no  other  view  of  idolatry  but  that  it  is  sin  against  God.  We 
cannot  succeed  in  convincing  idolaters  of  this,  if  we  ourselves 
feel  not  the  strongest  conviction  of  its  sin.  We  keep  in  the 
apostolic  line  by  feeling  provoked  in  spirit  whenever  we  meet 
with  idolatrous  practices.  Idolatry  is  sin,  not  a  sin  among  sins, 
but  THE  sin ;  it  is  rebellion,  open  enmity  against  God  the  Most 
High,  and  as  such  the  climax  of  estrangement  from  God.  Those 
who  collect  grains  of  truth  from  heathen  authors  to  develop 
them  into  revealed  truth  are  like  those  men  that  build  on  sand 
— fools,  our  Lord  calls  them.  Put  all  the  grains  together,  and 
you  only  heap  up  sand.  We  need  a  solid  rock  for  our  founda- 
tion, which  is  Christ  Jesus,  and  He  alone  the  God-man. — Rev. 
Ernst  Faber. 

God  is  our  loving  Father,  ever  seeking  His  wayward  chil- 
dren, even  to  the  sending  of  His  only  begotten  Son  for  their  res- 
cue. And  His  Son  has  sent  forth  his  disciples  into  all  the 
world,  ever  bearing  witness  to  their  genuineness  by  His  Spirit, 
His  word.  His  miracles.  His  works  of  creation,  and  His  provi- 
dence. And  the  on-going  of  God's  universe  ever  bears  witness 
to  His  revealed  word,  whether  this  word  is  read  from  the  print- 
ed page  or  heard  from  the  preacher's  lips.  God  is  not  willing 
any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  unto  Him  and  live. 


-31- 


CHAPTER  III 

Was  Confucius  Inspired  by  God? 

Even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  over  to  a  mind  void  of  judgment. — Bom.  1 :  28. 

We  have,  in  this  first  chapter  of  Romans,  a  summary  of  the 
sins  of  the  Gentile  world.  The  apostle  Paul  gives,  in  the  text, 
an  epitome  of  their  treatment  of  God  from  the  beginning  of  his- 
tor}'  down  to  the  present  time. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Gentiles  knew  God,  when  they 
were  not  yet  unthankful  nor  their  imaginations  vain,  when  their 
foolish  heart  had  not  yet  become  darkened.  Paul  dates  this,  in 
the  20th  verse,  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  i.  e.,  from  the  day 
that  man  was  created.  This  agrees  with  Genesis,  the  oldest  au- 
thentic record,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  "God  created  man  in 
his  own  image,  male  and  female  created  he  them,  and  they 
heard  His  voice,  understood  and  made  answer  (Gen.  1:27:2:8); 
and,  after  the  flood,  God  said  to  Noah,  "This  (bow  in  the  cloud) 
is  the  token  of  the  covenant  which  I  have  established  between 
me  and  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth."    (Gen.  9:17). 

If,  now,  we  look  up  the  earliest  record  of  each  great  nation 
of  antiquity,  we  invariably  flnd  that,  at  the  beginning,  they 
knew  God.  At  the  present  day,  we  have  several  distinct  sources 
from  which  may  be  obtained  corroborative  testimony  to  the  Bib- 
lical account.  There  is  profane  history,  there  are  the  monu- 
ments, and  there  is  comparative  philology. 

The  latter  takes  us  back  to  the  time  when  our  own  fore- 
fathers were  of  one  speech  and  in  one  place.  This  primitive  race 
dwelt  somewhere  on  the  plains  of  Central  Asia.  And  from 
thence,  these  great  Aryans  went  forth  to  the  west,  dividing  and 
sub-dividing  in  succeeding  ages  into  the  Armenians,  Circassians, 
Georgians,  the  Celts,  the  Italians,  the  Greeks,  the  Teutonic  peo- 
ples, and  the  Slavonic  tribes ;  and  to  the  south  passing  into  the 
various  peoples  called  Persians,  Medes,  Bactrians,  Afghans, 
Beluchis,  and  the  Hindus.  As  distance  separated  them,  and 
generation  after  generation  increased  their  number  in  almost 
arithmetical  progression,  we  can  readily  understand  how  that 


—32— 

their  lan^age  would  so  change  that  a  given  name  or  word  might 
become  quite  unrecognizable  in  its  latest  form,  or  its  original 
meaning  become  so  finely  attenuated  as  to  retain  but  the  faint- 
est allusion  to  its  former  self. 

By  some  such  process  as  this,  we  imagine,  the  knowledge  of 
God,  first  pure,  then  corrupted,  would  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  in  no  inconceivably  distant  generation,  become  so  dissipat- 
ed as  to  arrive  at  the  vanishing  point.  Suppose,  for  example,  a 
Gentile  tribe  of  the  ten  families  migrating  to  a  distant  region. 
An  individual  of  the  twentieth  generation,  counting  but  an  aver- 
age of  four  to  a  family,  would  be  possessed  of  only  one  five-mil- 
lionth part  of  his  first  ancestor's  knowledge  of  God,  mathemati- 
cally speaking,  while  his  own  religious  ideas  and  practices  would 
analyze  fully  4,999,999  parts  transmitted  and  invented  error  and 
superstitution. 

Now  this  is  peculiarly  true  of  that  branch  of  the  Turanian 
race  called  the  Chinese.  They  are  included  in  "those  who  did 
not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge."  After  their  east- 
ward migration,  mountain  barriers  and  distance  rendered  speedy 
communication  with  their  former  home  impossible,  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  carried  with  them  in  their  literature,  customs 
and  folk-lore  not  only  became  very  finely  attenuated  in  the  many 
generations  that  have  succeeded,  but  all  the  more  quickly,  per- 
haps, because  it  was  so  seldom  possible  to  renew  or  correct  it 
from  the  ancestral  source. 

But  one  legendary  milestone  helps  us  to  follow  that  early  mi- 
gratory course  across  the  continent.  Before  they  reached  the 
bend  of  the  Yellow  river  to  occupy  the  territory  which  formed 
the  nucleus  of  the  present-day  China,  the  "Yellow  Emperor's" 
palace  is  said  to  have  been  located  on  the  Kun-lun  mountain 
(2697-2598  B.  C),  a  thousand  miles  to  the  westward.  Fifteen 
centuries  later.  Emperor  Mu  (1001-947  B.  C.)  is  decribedas  taking 
a  pilgrimage  to  this  mountain  to  view  the  palace  of  the  "Yellow 
Emperor,"  (see  a  work  "probably  of  the  second  or  third  century 
B.  C,"  (Wylie),  entitled  Mu  Tien  Tsz  Chuan.) 

The  first  reference  to  Shang  Ti  (the  old  Chinese  term  for 
God,— literally.  Upper  or  Highest  Ruler),  or  indeed  to  any  relig- 
ion whatever  in  the  early  history  in  China,  is  found  in  the  words: 


—33— 

*'The  Yellow  Emperor  sacrificed  to  Shang  Ti,  gathered  the 
whole  populace  together  and  diffused  among  them  (the  princi- 
ples of)  government  and  religion,"  (see  Easy  Edition  of  History, 
Kan  Chien  I  Chih  Luh,  published  in  1711.) 

"It  will  be  agreed,"  says  Wm.  Arthur  Cornaby,  "that  how- 
ever attenuated  the  term  Shang  Ti  may  have  become  in  the 
minds  of  Chinese  scholars  during  the  ages  of  godlessness,  or  of 
substitution  of  imaginary  deities  for  God,  the  term  itself,  being 
equivalent  to  'Sovereign  on  High',  is  probably  the  nearest 
equivalent  we  could  wish  to  find  in  the  Chinese  language  for  our 
phrase,  'The  Supreme.'  "    (Chinese  Recorder,  January,  1904). 

The  next  historical  reference  is  in  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
K'u  (2436-2366  B.  C),  father  of  the  Emperor  Yao.  His  consort, 
* 'Chiang  Yuan,  together  with  the  Emperor,  sacrificed  to  Shang 
Ti  and  bore  Ch'i." 

After  this,  we  find  the  almost  total  disappearance  of  the 
term  "Shang  Ti"  (from  the  very  condensed  and  many  times  re- 
edited  records  of  later  centuries),  and  the  substituion  of  the 
term  "Tien",  (Heaven).  E.  g.,  the  "flood  regulator"  Yu  (2205- 
2198  B.  C),  on  assuming  the  throne,  said:  "I  have  received  the 
decree  of  heaven,  and  will  devote  my  whole  energies  to  comfort 
the  myriad  populace  in  their  labors."  Thus  when  they  knew 
God,  i.  e.,  at  least  had  not  yet  lost  the  name,  they  glorified  Him 
not  as  God,  but  as  "heaven." 

And  the  chief  actor  in  perpetuating  this  change  was  their 
now  universally  revered  and  worshipped  sage,  Confucius. 

It  may  be  well,  therefore,  at  this  point,  to  bring  out  more 
fully  before  our  minds  what  is  really  known  about  the  life, 
words,  and  writings  of  this  greatest  of  Chinese  philosophers,— 
the  one  man  whose  teachings  have  engrossed  the  minds  of  the 
millions  of  Chinese  scholors  for  upwards  of  twenty-five  centuries. 

I  do  this  the  more  earnestly  for  the  reason  that  writers  on 
Natural  Theology,  Comparative  Religion,  The  Gospel  in  Pagan 
Lands,  and  other  rationalistic  books  of  the  so-called  Higher 
Critics  have  made  such  misrepresentations  as  the  following: 
"Confucius  sought  to  implant  the  purest  principles  of  religion 
and  morals  in  the  character  of  the  whole  people,  and  succeeded 
in  doing  it  (Ten  Great  Religions,  p.  45.)" 


—34— 

A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit.  That  Confucius  did  not  like  to 
retain  even  the  name  of  God  in  his  knowledge  is  seen  from: 

I.      HIS  SILENCE  ON  THEOLOGY 

When  we  come  to  inquire  into  the  theology  of  Confucius  we 
find  a  most  barren  field  indeed.  We  find  no  statement  in  Chinese 
literature  that  Confucius  worshipped  Shang  Ti.  He  himself  did 
not  set  the  example  nor  did  he  teach  his  disciples  to  do  so.  He 
has  everything  to  say  about  man's  duty  to  man— between  sover- 
eign and  minister,  father  and  son,  husband  and  wife,  elder 
brother  and  younger,  and  the  intercourse  of  friends — but  noth- 
ing about  man's  duty  to  God.  Filial  piety  he  enjoins  with  the 
greatest  emphasis,  viz:  "The  services  of  love  and  reverence  to 
parents  when  alive,  and  those  of  grief  and  sorrow  for  them  when 
dead, — these  completely  discharge  the  fundamental  duty  of  liv- 
ing men." 

"A  personal  God  was  unknown  to  him,"  says  the  author  of 
Ten  Great  Religions  above  quoted,  "so  that  his  worship  was  di- 
rected not  to  God,  but  to  antiquity,  to  ancestors,  to  propriety 
and  usage,  to  the  state  as  father  and  mother  of  its  subjects,  to 
the  ruler  as  in  the  place  of  authority."  And  yet  this  same  writ- 
er says  that  "God  has  caused  some  people  to  be  born  in  China, 
where  they  can  know  Him  only  through  Buddah  and  Confucius ; 
that  modern  missions  liave  not  converted  whole  nations,  but 
only  individuals  here  and  there ;  and  that  when  Christian  mis- 
sionaries shall  go  and  say:  'You  are  already  on  your  way  to 
God, — your  religion  came  from  Him,  and  was  inspired  by  His 
Spirit  now  he  sends  you  something  more  and  higher  by  his  Son, 
who  does  not  come  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill,  not  to  take  away 
any  good  thing  you  have,  but  to  add  to  it  something  better, — 
then  we  shall  see  the  process  of  conversion,  checked  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries,  re-inaugurated."  p.  19. 

To  all  such,  it  is  sufficient  to  reply,  It  is  written,  "faith 
without  works  is  dead.  Show  me  your  faith  without  your  works, 
and  I  will  show  you  my  faith  by  my  works."  James  2:20,  18. 
How  many  converts,  now,  or  since  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 
have  these  "Utopian"  writers  to  report?  Asa  result  of  Chris- 
tian missionaries,  yet  not  of  themselves,  but  of  Christ  who 
worketh  in  them,  over  125,000  Chinese  are  now  rejoicing  in  their 


—35— 

Christian  conversion.  And  let  us  remember  the  words  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  how  he  upbraided  the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  Though 
they  undoubtedly  had  the  pure  letter  of  the  law,  and  were  un- 
swervingly punctilious  in  its  formal  observance,  yet  Jesus  de- 
nounces them  as  hypocrites.  Why?  "For  they  compass  sea 
and  land  to  make  one  proselyte,  and  when  he  is  made,  they  make 
him  twofold  more  the  child  of  hell  than  themselves."  Matt. 
23:15.  Now  if  these  proselytes  could  not  find  God,  but  only  hell, 
through  these  formal  teachers  of  the  law  of  God,  how  can  the 
Chinese  find  God  through  Confucius,  who  only  claimed  to  trans- 
mit the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  and  who  excluded  even  their 
one-time  name  for  God  from  all  his  own  teachings? 

n.      HIS  SUBSTITUTION  OF  HEAVEKOLOGY  FOR  THEOLOGY 

Confucius  handed  down  the  doctrines  of  Yao  and  Shun  as  if 
they  had  been  his  ancestors,  but  while  those  ancient  worthies  of- 
ten speak  of  Shang  Ti,Conf  ucius  mentions  the  name  only,  it  would 
seem,  where  it  was  unavoidable  in  editing  history,  and  but  once 
in  the  Four  Books,  Doct.  of  the  Mean,  30:1,  and  then  while 
"elegantly  displaying  the  regulations"  of  former  kings.  Wan  and 
Wu  to  state  that  "they  served  Shang  Ti."  (D.  M.  19.)  But  of 
"heaven"  he  says:  It  is  only  heaven  that  is  grand,  and  only 
soverign  Yao  corresponded  to  it.    An.  8:19. 

It  is  heaven  that,  in  the  production  of  things,  is  sure  to  be 
bountiful  to  such  rulers  as  filial  Shun.  D.  M.  17.  At  50,  Con- 
fucius knew  the  degrees  of  heaven.  An.  4:4.  He  calls  on  heav- 
en to  reject  him  wherein  he  has  done  improperly.  An.  6:26. 
Heaven  produced  the  virtue  in  him,  An.  7:22 ;  heaven  knows  him, 
An.  14:37 ;  heaven  protects  him.  An.  9:5. 

Now  what  is  this  "heaven"  of  Confucius  that  issues  decrees ; 
that  knows,  that  protects,  that  produces,  that  destroys?  An. 
11:8.  Does  heaven  speak?  Confucius  himself  raises  the  ques- 
tion, and  adds,  "The  four  seasons  pursue  their  courses,  and  all 
things  are  continually  being  produced,  but  does  heaven  say  any- 
thing?" An.  17:19.  Menci us  expands  the  meaning  thus:  "Wen 
Chang  asked.  Who  gave  Shun  the  empire?  Heaven  gave  it  to 
him,  was  Mencius'  answer.  Did  heaven  confer  its  appointment 
on  him  with  specific  instructions?    Mencius  replied.  No.    Heav- 


—se- 
en does  not  speak.  It  simply  showed  its  will  by  his  personal  con- 
duct and  his  conduct  of  affairs.  Yao  presented  Shun  to  heaven, 
and  heaven  accepted  him ;  and  that  he  exhibited  him  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  people  accepted  him.  Wen  Chang  asked,  How? 
Mencius  said,  He  caused  him  to  preside  over  the  sacrifices,  and 
all  the  spirits  were  well  pleased  with  them ;— thus  heaven  accept- 
ed him.  He  caused  him  to  preside  over  the  conduct  of  affairs, 
and  affairs  were  well  administered,  so  that  the  people  reposed 
under  him  ;~thus  the  people  accepted  him.  Heaven  gave  the 
empire  to  him.  The  people  gave  it  to  him.  This  sentiment  is 
expressed  in  the  words  of  the  Great  Declaration,  'Heaven  sees 
according  as  my  people  see ;  Heaven  hears  according  as  my  people 
hear.'  (Menicus,  B.  V.  Part  1,  ch.  5.)" 

Dr.  Ernst  Faber,  in  a  paper  before  the  World's  Parliament 
of  Religions,  Chicago,  sums  it  up  in  these  words:  "The 
invisible  world  corresponds  to  every  Chinese  institution,  even  in 
its  smallest  details.  There  is  one  highest  ruler  in  heaven,  cor- 
responding to  the  emperor  on  earth ;  under  him  are  innumerable 
gods  of  all  degrees,  rulers  of  states  or  large  provinces,  down  to 
invisible  constables  and  kitchen  gods.  The  emperor,  as  the  only 
son  of  heaven,  holds  as  such,  power  and  dominion  over  all  the 
earth  as  his  indisputable  right."  "To  no  one  but  the  son  of 
heaven,"  says  Confucius,  "does  it  belong  to  order  the  ceremo- 
nies." (Doctrine  of  the  Mean,  28:2).  Modern  Confucianism 
went  consistently  into  the  extreme,  that  the  deceased  have  the 
same  needs  in  the  other  world  as  on  earth,  which  needs  have  to 
be  supplied  by  their  descendants.  Ancestral  worship  with  its 
offerings  thus  became  the  characteristic  feature  of  the  Confucian 
religion.  There  are  also  the  same  punishments ;  the  torments 
in  hell  are  counterfeits  of  the  tortures  in  Chinese  courts  of  law, 
in  prisons,  and  on  the  execution  ground.  The  gods  are  just  as 
accessible  to  bribes  as  the  mandarins  on  earth.  We  see  that 
three  of  the  highly  extolled  Consucian  social  rules  (father  and 
son— ancestral  worship— husband  and  wife,  ruler  and  subject), 
are  not  fit  for  moral  standards ;  their  practice  has  been  of  disas- 
trous consequences,  a  fruitful  source  of  disorder  in  the  history 
of  China. 

Heaven,  then,  is  the  metonymical  name  of  the  Celestial 
Court  in  the  Confucian  spirit-world,   used  interchangeably  for 


—37— 

the  Monarch  himself,  on  the  principle  that  "The  Court"  stands 
for  "The  Emperor,"  and  for  the  collective  mind  and  will  of  the 
Monarch  and  his  advisers.  This  strikingly  shown  in  the  History 
Classic  (v-  23):  "Thus  did  they  (Wen  and  Wu  Wang)  receive  the 
true  appointment  of  Shang  Ti ;  thus  did  Imperial  Heaven  ap- 
prove of  their  ways,  and  give  them  the  four  quarters  of  the  em- 
pire." So  when  Confucius  says,  "When  good  government  pre- 
vails in  the  empire,  ceremonies,  music,  and  punitive  military  ex- 
peditions proceed  from  the  son  of  heaven  (the  emperor),"  (An. 
16:2),  he  implies  that  there  is  a  father-monarch  in  heaven  of  the 
son-monarch  on  earth.  And  again,  when  he  says,  "The  superior 
man  stands  in  awe  of  the  ordinances  of  heaven,"  (An.  16:8),  his 
disciples  are  to  understand  these  ordinances  proceed  from  the 
monarch  on  the  throne  of  heaven  analagous  to  the  issuance  of  the 
decrees  of  their  own  emperor.  And  as  if  to  complete  the  simi- 
larity of  the  heavenly  to  the  earthly  kingdom,  he  adds,  "The 
mean  man  (literally,  small  or  common  man)  does  not  know  the 
ordinances  of  heaven,  and  consequently  does  not  stand  in  awe  of 
them,"  (An.  16:8);  which  is  amplified  by  Mencius'  quotation 
from  the  book  of  History,  "Heaven  having  produced  the  inferior 
people,  appointed  for  them  rulers  and  teachers  with  the  purpose 
that  they  should  be  assisting  to  Shang  Ti  (Mencius,  Book  I, 
Part  II:. 3). 

Thus  the  Confucian  "heaven"  is  simply  what  his  disciples, 
following  their  master,  imagine  it  to  be.  Not  only  has  their 
foolish  heart  substituted  the  term  "heaven"  for  what  was  form- 
erly their  name  for  God,  but  the  primitive  revelation  has  become 
so  far  lost  in  their  darkened  mind  that  their  vain  imagination 
now  reverses  it,  and  projects  back,  as  by  a  stereopticon,  the  pic- 
ture of  an  earthly  kingdom  on  the  canvass  of  heaven.  In  other 
words,  as  the  Greek  philosophers  made  their  gods  to  suit  them- 
selves, so  the  Chinese  sages,  in  the  freedom  of  their  imagination, 
have  deified  the  Chinese  empire,  and  have  called  it  "Heav- 
en." 

Even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  so 
they  have  not  retained  Him,  and  God  has  given  them  over,  as 
His  word  in  the  28th  verse  says,  unto  a  reprobate  mind — a  mind 
void  of  judgment.  And  in  this  sad  condition  we  still  find  them 
at  the  present  day. 


-38— 


in.      HIS  WORSHIP  OF  SPIRITS 


(a.)  In  precept.  Confucius  said:  Kespect  the  spirits 
(kwei  shen)  but  keep  aloof  from  them,  (An.  6:20.)  (Dr.  Legge 
the  learned  translator  of  the  Chinese  Classics  says  tliat  "kwei" 
was  the  name  for  the  spirit  of  departed  men,  and  "shen"  tlie 
name  for  spirits  generally,  and  specially  for  spirits  of  heaven.) 
For  a  man  to  sacrifice  to  a  spirit  (of  departed  man)  that  does  not 
belong  to  him  is  flattery.  (An.  2:24.)  He  who  understands  the 
ceremonies  of  the  sacrifices  to  heaven  and  earth,  and  the  mean- 
ing of  the  several  sacrifices  to  ancestors,  would  find  the  govern- 
ment of  a  kingdom  as  easy  as  to  look  into  his  palm.  (D.  M.  19:6 ; 
An.  3:9.) 

(b.)  In  definition.  His  nearest  approach  to  a  description  of 
these  "spirits"  is  found  in  the  16th  chapter  of  the  Doctrine  of 
the  Mean,  viz:  "How  abundantly  do  the  spirits  (kwei  shen)  dis- 
play the  powers  that  belong  to  them  I  We  look  for  them,  but  do 
not  see  them ;  we  listen  to,  but  do  not  hear  them ;  yet  they  enter 
into  all  things,  and  there  is  nothing  without  them.  They  cause 
all  the  people  in  the  kidgdom  to  fast  and  purify  themselves,  and 
array  themselves  in  their  richest  dresses,  in  order  to  attend  at 
their  sacrifices.  Then  like  overflowing  water,  they  seem  to  be 
over  their  heads,  and  on  the  right  and  left  of  their  worshippers." 

(c.)  In  practice.  Confucius  sacrificed  to  the  spirits  (shen)  as 
if  the  spirits  were  present.  (An.  3:12.)  When  the  prince  sent 
him  a  gift  of  undressed  meat,  he  would  have  it  cooked,  and  offer 
it  to  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors.  (An.  10:13).  Although  his 
food  might  be  coarse  rice  and  vegetable  soup,  he  would  offer  a 
little  of  it  in  sacrifice  with  a  grave  respectful  air.  (An.  10:8.) 
When  the  villagers  were  going  through  their  ceremonies  to  drive 
away  pestilential  influences,  he  put  on  his  court  robes  and  stood 
on  the  eastern  steps.  (An.  10:10).  Speaking  of  Chung-kung,  he 
said,  "If  the  calf  of  the  brindle  cow  be  red  and  horned,  although 
man  may  not  wish  to  use  it,  would  the  spirits  of  the  mountains 
and  rivers  put  it  aside?"  (An.  6:4.)  When  sick,  Tsze-lu  asked 
leave  to  pray  for  him.  He  said,  may  such  a  thing  be  done?  Tsze- 
lu  found  a  precedent  for  so  doing  in  the  Eulogies  where  it  is  said, 
'Prayer  has  been  made  for  thee  to  the  spirits  of  the  upper  and 
lower  worlds.'    The  master  said,  'My  praying  has  been  for  a  long 


—39— 

time.  An.  7:34.'  "  This  shows  that  Confucius  was  a  polytheist  in 
practice,  since  he  worshipped  the  spirits  of  mountains,  rivers, 
ancestors  and  heaven,  and  offered  sacrifice  to  them  all.  ISTow 
Paul  says  that  the  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrfice,  they  sac- 
rifice to  demons  and  not  to  God,  (I  Cor.  10:20)  while  the  writer 
on  comparative  religion  already  quoted  says  that  "Confucius 
was  the  last  of  these  holy  men,  (p.  53),  a  Star  in  the  East  to  lead 
his  people  to  Christ."    (p.  58.)    Which  is  right? 

IV.      HIS  FATALISM 

The  appointments  of  heaven  are  fixed.  There  was  Yen 
Yuan— his  appointed  time  was  short,  and  he  died.  (An.  6:2.) 
From  of  old,  death  has  been  the  lot  of  all  men.  (An.  12:7).  The 
decrees  of  heaven  are  inalterable.  If  my  principles  are  to  ad- 
vance, it  is  so  ordered ;  if  they  are  to  fall  to  the  ground,  it  is  so 
ordered.    (An.  14:38). 

Confucius  is  thus  seen  to  be  a  blind  fatalist,  an  autocrat  of 
custom,  a  strict  ritualist,  a  lover  of  ceremonies,  a  stickler  for 
forms,  holding  to  the  letter  even  to  the  sacrifice  of  the  spirit. 
Tsze-kung  wished  to  do  away  with  the  offering  of  a  sheep  con- 
nected with  the  inauguration  of  the  first  day  of  each  month. 
(An.  3:17).  The  master  said,  Tsze,  you  love  the  sheep;  I  love 
the  ceremony.  (An.  3:17).  With  him  example  was  omnipotent. 
The  decrees  of  heaven  were  the  end  of  wisdom,  and  only  he  and 
the  sages  knew  them.  How  dare  puny  man  even  think  of  chang- 
ing them?  When  Yen  Yuan  died,  he  said,  Heaven  is  destroying 
me.  (An.  11:8).  Everything  in  the  course  of  nature,  as  sickness 
and  death,  is  ordered.  Whatever  is,  is  decreed.  Without  God 
in  the  world,  he  shrank  from  the  mention  of  death,  and  refused 
to  talk  about  spirits.  Without  hope,  with  no  anchor  of  the  soul, 
he  changed  countenance  at  a  clap  of  thunder  or  heavy  gust  of 
wind. 

Confucius  knew  the  past,  the  present,  but  no  future.  He 
enforced  the  duties  of  the  present  by  the  inexorable  precedents 
of  the  past ;  he  refused  to  look  into  the  future.  To  live  in  ob- 
scurity, he  said,  and  yet  practice  wonders,  in  order  to  be  men- 
tioned with  honor  in  future  ages— this  is  what  I  do  not  do.  (D. 
M.  11:1.)    There  were  spirits  of  heaven  and  men  in  the  past, 


—40— 

and  their  number  is  ever  increased  by  the  death  of  yesterday. 
Tiiese  are  to  be  worshipped  today ;  tomorrow  will  take  care  of 
itself. 

V.      HIS  PRACTICE  VS.  HIS  PRECEPTS 

But  let  us  give  honor  where  honor  is  due.  Confucius,  in 
editing  the  works  of  the  ancient  sages,  has  preserved  some  so- 
called  "Apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver,"  viz:  According  to 
Coufucius. 

The  Golden  Rule  reads:  "What  you  do  not  want  done  to 
yourself,  do  not  do  to  others."    (An.  15:2.3.) 

The  Fifth  Commandment:  Filial  Piety  is  this ; — That  par- 
ents when  alive,  should  be  served  according  to  propriety ;  that 
wlien  dead,  they  should  be  buried  according  to  propriety ;  and 
that  they  should  be  sacrificed  to  according  to  propriety.  (An.  2:5). 

The  Seventh  Commandment:  The  superior  man  in  youth, 
guards  against  lust.    (An.  16:7.) 

The  Tenth  Commandment:  The  superior  man,  when  he  is 
old,  guards  against  covetousness.    (An.  16:7). 

It  may  have  been  the  contemplation  of  just  such  beautiful 
sayings  as  these  that  led  the  author  of  Ten  Great  Religions  to 
rapturously  exclaim,  "We  cannot  doubt,  therefore,  that  God  has 
given  this  teacher  to  the  swarming  millions  of  China  to  lead 
them  on  till  they  are  ready  for  a  higher  light."    (pp.  58,  59). 

Now  this  naturally  provokes  the  inquiry,  Whence  came 
these  so-called  "apples  of  gold?"  And  here  we  are  at  once  upon 
sure  ground,  for  Confucius  himself  is  very  explicit  in  answering. 
He  says:  "I  am  not  one  born  in  the  possession  of  knowledge ;  I 
am  one  who  is  fond  of  antiquity,  and  earnest  in  seeking  it  there. 
(An.  7:19).  I  am  a  transmitter  and  not  a  maker,  believing  in 
and  loving  the  ancients.  (An  7:1).  In  ceremonies  and  music,  I 
follow  the  men  of  former  times.  (An.  11:1).  I  have  learned  the 
ceremonies  of  Chow  which  are  now  used,  and  I  follow  Chow.  (D. 
M.  28:5.  After  the  death  of  king  Wan,  was  not  the  cause  of 
truth  lodged  here  in  me?  (An.  9:5.)  And  Mencius  adds.  From 
Yao  and  Shun  down  to  Tang  were  500  years  and  more.  Tang 
heard  their  doctrines  as  transmitted,  and  so  knew  them.  From 
Tang  down  to  king  Wan  were  500  years  and  more.  King  Wan 
heard  his  doctrines,  as  transmitted,  and  so  knew  them.  From 
King  Wan  down  to  Confucius  were  500  years  and  more.    Con- 


—41— 

fucius  heard  his  doctrines  as  transmitted,  and  so  knew  them. 
The  distance  in  time  from  the  sage,  100  years  and  more,  is  far 
from  being  remote.    (Mencius,  B.  7,  Part  2:38). 

Thus  we  trace  these  so-called  sayings  of  Confucius  back 
through  king  Wan  and  emperors  Tang,  Yao,  and  Shun  on  to 
tlieir  only  origin,  the  one  source  of  all  truth.  In  Confucius'  day 
they  may  be  likened  unto  little  dynamos  disconnected  from  the 
power  house.  When  we  come  to  inspect  them  thus  discon- 
nected, we  may  expect  to  find  them  lifeless,  dead.  And  even  so 
we  find  them.  Now  let  us  look  at  the  interpretation  of  these 
old  sayings  as  exhibited  in  the  life  of  Confucius  himself. 

Precept:  What  you  do  not  want  done  to  yourself,  do  not  do 
to  others.    (An.  15:23). 

Practice:  Yang  Ho  watched  when  Confucius  was  out,  and 
sent  him  a  roasted  pig.  Confucius  in  his  turn  watched  when 
Yang  Ho  was  out,  and  went  to  pay  his  respect  to  him.  (Men- 
cius, B.  3,  Part  2:7.)  Some  one  said,  What  do  you  say  concerning 
the  principle  that  injury  should  be  recompensed  with  kindness? 
Confucius  said.  With  what  then  will  you  recompense  kindness? 
Recompense  injury  with  justice,  and  recompense  kindness  with 
kindness.  (An.  14:36.)  (For  comment,  see  Luke  6:33,  If  ye  do 
good  to  them  which  do  good  to  you,  what  reward  have  ye?  for 
sinners  also  do  even  the  same).  Nothing  about  man's  duty  to 
God. 

Precept:  Enjoining  filial  piety,  the  services  of  love  and  rev- 
erence to  parents.  (The  Hsias  King,  ch.  18).  "Man  is  born  for 
uprightness."    (An.  6:17). 

Practice:  Confucius  said,  Among  us,  in  our  part  of  the 
country,  the  father  conceals  the  misconduct  of  the  son,  and  the 
son  conceals  the  misconduct  of  the  father.  Uprightness  is  to  be 
found  in  this.    (An.  13:18). 

Precept:  I  do  not  know  how  a  man  without  truthfulness  is 
to  get  on.    (An.  2:22). 

Practice:  Juh  Pei  wished  to  see  Confucius,  but  Confucius  de- 
clined on  the  ground  of  being  sick,  to  see  him.  When  the  bearer 
of  this  message  went  out  at  the  door,  he  took  liis  harpsichord, 
and  sang  to  it,  in  order  that  Pei  might  hear  him.  (An.  17:20). 
Dr.  Legge  comments  as  follows:  "Confucius  taught  'truthful- 
ness', yet  he  was  not  altogether  the  truthful  and  true  man  to 


—42— 

whom  we  accord  our  highest  approbation."  There  was  the  case 
of  Mang-Chih-fan,  who  boldly  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  defeat- 
ed troops  of  Lu,  and  attributed  his  occupying  the  place  of  honor 
to  the  backwardness  of  his  horse.  The  action  was  gallant,  but 
the  apology  for  it  was  weak  and  unnecessary.  And  yet  Confu- 
cius saw  nothing  in  the  whole,  but  matter  for  praise.    (An.  6 :  13. ) 

Truthfulness  was  one  of  the  subjects  that  Confucius  often 
insisted  on  with  his  disciples,  but  the  "Spring  and  Autumn" 
has  led  his  countrymen  to  conceal  the  truth  from  themselves 
and  others,  wherever  they  think  it  would  injuriously  affect  the 
reputation  of  the  empire,  or  of  its  sages.  I  would  only  further 
remark  that  there  is  no  valid  authority  for  a  saying  often  attrib- 
uted to  him  that  "in  the  west  the  true  saint  must  be  looked  for 
and  found."    (ibid,  pp.  143-146). 

Precept:  Sincerity: — In  a  hamlet  of  ten  families,  there  may 
be  found  one  honorable  and  sincere  as  I  am,  but  not  so  fond  of 
learning.    (An.  5:27). 

Practice:  Insincerity: — On  the  road,  once,  he  was  seized 
and  obliged  to  take  an  oath,  he  would  proceed  no  further.  He 
deliberately  proceeded  thither,  however,  explaining,  "It  was  a 
forced  oath.  The  spirits  do  not  hear  such."  Sze  Ma  chiens 
Kungnz  Shih  Kia,  (p.  7  ;)  also  Kia-Yii.  "But  was  not  the  insin- 
cerity a  natural  result  of  the  un-religion  of  Confucius",  com- 
ments Dr.  Legge.  "Natural  affection,  the  feeling  of  loyality,  an 
enlightened  policy,  may  do  much  to  build  up  and  preserve  a  fam- 
ily and  a  State,  but  it  requires  more  to  maintain  the  love  of 
truth,  and  make  a  lie,  spoken  or  acted,  to  be  shrunk  from  with 
shame.  It  requires,  in  fact,  the  living  recognition  of  a  God  of 
truth,  and  all  the  sanctions  of  revealed  religion.  Unfortunate- 
ly, the  Chinese  have  not  had  these,  and  the  example  of  him  to 
whom  they  bow  down  as  the  best  and  wisest  of  men,  does  not 
set  them  against  dissimulation."    (Ibid,  pp.  143-146). 

VI.      HIS  LAST  DAYS  AND  WORDS 

"Early  one  morning,  we  are  told,  he  got  up,  and  with  his 
hands  behind  his  back,  dragging  his  staff,  he  moved  about  by  his 
door,  crooning  over, — 

'The  great  mountain  must  crnmble ; 

The  strong  beam  must  break ; 

And  the  wise  man  wither  away  like  a  plant.' 


-43— 

After  a  little,  he  entered  the  house  and  sat  down  by  the 
door.  Tsze  kung  had  heard  his  words,  and  said  to  himself,  'If 
the  great  mountain  crumble,  to  what  shall  I  look  up?  If  the 
strong  beam  break,  and  the  wise  man  wither  away,  on  whom 
shall  I  lean!  The  master,  I  fear  is  going  to  be  ill.'  With  this 
he  hastened  into  the  house.  Confucius  said  to  him,  'Tsze,  what 
makes  you  so  late?'  According  to  the  statutes  of  Hsia,  the  corpse 
was  dressed  and  coffined  at  the  top  of  the  eastern  steps,  treating 
the  dead  as  if  he  were  still  the  host.  Under  the  Yin,  the  cere- 
mony was  performed  between  the  two  pillars,  comma,  as  if  the 
dead  were  both  host  and  guest.  The  rule  of  Chow  is  to  perform 
it  at  the  top  of  the  western  steps,  treating  the  dead  as  if  he 
were  a  guest.  I  am  a  man  of  Yin,  and  last  night  I  dreamt  that 
I  was  sitting  with  offerings  before  me  between  the  two  pillars. 
No  intelligent  monarch  arises ;  there  is  not  one  in  the  kingdom 
that  will  make  me  his  master.  My  time  has  come  to  die."  So 
it  was.  He  went  to  his  couch,  and  after  seven  days  expired. 
(See  the  lu  Chuan,  Ai  Kung  Shih  Luh  Nien,  and  Chiang  Yung's 
life  of  Confucius  in  loco.    See  the  Li  Chi  II,  Sec.  1,  2:20). 

Such  is  the  account  which  we  have  of  the  last  hours  of  the 
great  philosopher  of  China.  His  end  was  unimpressive,  but  it 
was  melancholy.  He  sank  behind  a  cloud.  Disappointed  hopes 
made  his  soul  bitter.  The  great  ones  of  the  kingdom  had  not 
received  his  teachings.  No  wife  nor  child  was  by  to  do  the  kind- 
ly offices  of  affection  for  him.  Nor  were  the  expectations  of  an- 
other life  present  with  him  as  he  passed  through  the  dark  valley. 
Thinking  only  of  earthly  ceremony  to  the  last,  he  dreamed  that 
he  himself  was  dressed  and  coffined  in  accordance  with  the  stat- 
utes of  Yin,  and  placed  between  the  two  pillars  of  the  temple 
with  the  sacrificial  offerings  before  him.  "The  mountain  falling 
came  to  naught,  and  the  rock  was  removed  ont  of  his  place.  So 
death  prevailed  against  him,  and  he  passed ;  and  his  countenance 
was  changed,  and  he  was  sent  away."  (The  Chinese  Classics  by 
Dr.  Legge,  p.  87). 

Thus  the  personification  of  the  Chinese  wisdom  of  this 
world  came  to  naught. 

Our  text  says:  Even  as  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  over  to  a  mind  void  of  judg- 
ment and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.    The  point  had  been 


—44— 

reached  where  "the  Confucian  world,  by  its  wisdom  knew  not 
God."  In  this  condition  no  matter  how  many  fragmentary 
forms  of  truth  lay  imbedded  in  their  customs,  folk-lore 
and  literature,  their  foolish  heart  did  not  give  God  the  glory. 
"And  when  salt  has  lost  its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted." 
The  wisdom  of  this  world  makes  gods  of  its  own,  and  ways  of 
worship  suited  thereto.  And  he  passes  away,  hence  it  is  not  of 
God,  for  God's  word  abideth  ever.  Paul  says  he  came  to  such 
not  with  excellency  of  speech — not  like  a  Demosthenes  with  his 
persuasive  eloquence,  nor  a  Plato  with  his  stylistic  beauty,  nor 
an  Aristotle  with  his  sublime  metaphysics.  He  had  a  message 
to  deliver,  and  he  would  call  men's  attention  to  the  miessage, 
not  the  messenger.  He  would  stir  their  souls  not  by  his  style  of 
language,  but  by  proclaiming  the  gospel  of  Christ,  which  is  the 
power,  the  dynamo,  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  every  one  who 
believes  it. 

After  Socrates,  perhaps  the  best  exponent  of  this  world's 
wisdom  is  Confucius.  In  fact,  men  still  rolling  his  worldly  mor- 
sels of  truth  under  their  tongues,  extol  Confucius  as  a  greater 
than  Socrates.  But  Confucius'  wisdom,  culled  from  the  ancients, 
as  he  says,  is  to  us,  as  most  things  Chinese,  upside  down,  that  is, 
it  does  not  bring  the  Heavenly  Jerusalem  as  a  bride  adorned, 
down  to  earth,  but  projects  back,  as  with  a  huge  stereopticon, 
his  own  earthly  kingdom  on  the  sky  above,  to  the  complete  ob- 
scuration and  delusion  of  his  disciples'  eyes  for  2500  years.  In 
the  case  of  Socrates,  the  fragmentary  forms  of  the  perverted 
knowledge  of  God  had  come  down  through  many  generations  of 
those  who  did  not  like  to  retain  him  in  their  knowledge.  In 
like  manner,  some  empty  shells  of  former  truth  are  found  in 
Confucianism,  floating  like  meteoric  dust  in  a  worldly  space,  or 
to  change  the  figure,  filling  like  husks  of  the  prodigals  who 
strayed  far  into  the  great  Sahara  of  man's  invention  and  super- 
stition,— their  true  origin  even  unknown  until  a  man  sent  from 
God  discovers  and  restores  the  connection.  So  far  as  influencing 
their  lives  is  concerned,  they  have  about  as  much  effect  as  do  the 
priests'  beating  of  the  gongs,  or  clanging  of  cymbals  by  tlie 
priests  on  the  mud-made  gods  used  in  their  temple  worship  or 
idol  processions. 

Confucianism  as  exhibited  in  the  lives  of  his  disciples  at  the 


—45— 

present  day  is  thus  illustrated  in  "In  China  Millions,"  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1903:  "The  following  Imperial  decree  concerning  the  son 
of  Ts'en  Ch'un  Hsued  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  darkness  of 
the  best  of  human  philosophies:  We  have  received  a  joint  mem- 
orial from  Chang  Chih  Tung,  viceroy  of  Hu-kuang,  and  Tuna- 
fang,  governor  of  Hupeh,  stating  that  w^hen  the  late  v^^ife  of 
Ts'un  Ch'un  Hsuen,  viceroy  of  Sze-chuan,  died  at  Hankow  last 
autumn,  the  said  viceroy's  eldest  son,  Ts'en  Te-ku,  M.  A.,  an  ex- 
pectant prefect  of  Hunan,  who  waited  upon  his  mother  during 
her  illness,  was  so  grief-stricken  at  his  inability  to  take  care  of 
her,  through  lack  of  knowledge  of  medicine  and  drugs,  that  he 
immolated  himself  before  her  coffin.  This  is  an  instance  of  rare 
devotion  and  filial  piety,  and  a  matter  for  Imperial  commenda- 
tion. We  hereby  grant  the  memorialist's  request,  that  a  monu- 
ment be  erected  eulogizing  the  filial  piety  of  the  deceased  Ts'en 
Te-ku,  and  that  his  deed  be  recorded  in  the  dynastic  history." 
Such  is  the  demoralizing  effect  of  the  distorted  and  perverted 
doctrine  of  "filial  piety",  as  taught  and  commended  by  the  high- 
est authorities  in  China.  Here  we  have  two  of  China's  highest 
and  most  enlightened  officials  commending,  and  the  Imperial 
throne  eulogizing  suicide.  And  yet  there  are  those  who  will 
rank  the  moral  teachings  of  Confucius  with  those  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

We  have  already  found,  so  far  as  we  have  authentic  history, 
that  w^hen  God  speaks  to  heathen  it  is  always  through  His  mes- 
senger. The  knowledge  of  God  and  of  the  Son  of  God  comes  to 
them,  at  the  first,  in  one  and  the  same  way.  We  must  hence 
conclude  that  Socrates,  Confucius  and  others  of  this  class  have 
not  received  their  teachings  from  God,  for  no  evidence  appears 
that  a  God's  messenger  interpreted  it  to  them.  They  themselves 
do  not  claim  this;  in  fact,  Socrates  makes  his  own  reason  his  god, 
while  Confucius  has  not  even  retained  the  name  of  God.  No 
one  in  all  profane  history  claims  that  Socrates'  theology  was 
given  him  by  revelation  from  God :  Socrates  himself  says  he  got 
it  from  the  ancients— Homer  and  the  Egyptians.  It  is  left 
to  present-day  professors  of  natural  theology  and  writers  on 
comparative  religion  to  blandly  assert  that  Socrates  was  a  Chris- 
tian writer  before  Christ  and  that  Confucius  was  as  much  in- 
spired by  God  as  Moses  and  Isaiah.    These  men  themselves  liv- 


—46— 

ing  in  remote  heathenism  were  totally  unaware  that  people, 
centuries  afterwards  would  so  pervert  their  record.  They  some- 
times, like  Li  Hung  Chang  our  some  time  fellow  townsman  in 
China,  may  have  allured  themselves  with  the  proud  thought 
that  after  departure,  posterity  would  worship  them  at  an  altar 
as  a  god.  Even  so  did  Confucius  soliloquize  on  his  death  bed. 
But  certainly  it  was  farthest  from  any  of  their  expressed 
thoughts  that  people  of  an  after  age  would  attempt  to  prove 
that  they,  while  living,  worshipped  God  who  made  heaven  and 
earth  and  that  their  writings  were  revelations  from  Him.  Had 
they  known  of  the  true  God,  they  must  have  realized  how  im- 
possible it  was  for  themselves  ever  to  become  gods.  And,  even 
in  their  day,  to  have  worshipped  the  spirits  of  their  ancestors, 
of  earth  and  of  heaven,  was  to  preclude  any  thought  of  God's 
using  them  as  a  medium  for  communicating  his  revelations  to 
men.  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they  are  spiritually  dis- 
cerned. And  any  one  worshipping  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  crea- 
tions of  their  own  fancy,  of  idols  the  works  of  their  own  hands, 
certainly  is  not  a  fit  temple  for  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
whom,  says  Jesus,  the  world  cannot  receive.  But  this  gift  of 
God,  His  Spirit,  is  for  every  one  who  will  believe  in  His  Son  and 
do  His  holy  will.  For  God  willeth  not  that  any  should  perish, 
but  that  all  should  come  unio  Him  and  live. 

And  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard.  And  how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?  And  how 
shall  they  preach  except  they  be  sent?  The  harvest  truly  is 
plenteous  but  the  laborers  are  few.  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord 
of  the  harvest  that  he  would  send  forth  laborers  into  his  vine- 
yard. 

Moreover,  we  see  how  that  these  so-called  "apples  of  gold  in 
pictures  of  silver",  these  "nuggets  of  wisdom,"  these  "grains  of 
truth",  in  Confucius'  mouth  and  heart  were  mere  forms  of  god- 
liness without  the  power  thereof, — 2  Tim.  3:5.  As  practiced  by 
him  and  his  disciples,  they  were  only  sounding  brass  or  tinkling 
cymbals.  They  were  to  them  as  impotent  for  true  spiritual  ed- 
ification and  reformation  as  would  be  the  Ten  Commandments 
or  the  gospel  preached  to  you  in  Chinese.    When  I  talk  in  this 


-47— 

{to  you)  unknown  tongue,  T  give  you  a  form  of  the  truth  but  deny 
to  j'ou  the  power  thereof. 

Now  this  point  is  reached  in  any  nation  or  people  when  they 
have  gone  so  far  astray  in  idolatrous  rebellion  against  God  that 
there  is  no  longer  a  prophet  or  teacher  sent  from  God  among 
them.  A  teacher  cannot  teach  more  than  he  himself  knows. 
A  fonntain  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source  without  outside 
aid.  Men  cannot  hear  of  God  without  a  preacher.  Hence  the 
possibility  that  Conf  ucianists  could  ever  be  reciting  the  empty 
word-forms  of  former  truth  becoming  emptier  still  with  the 
passing  of  the  years  and  yet  not  be  able  to  come  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  ti-uth,  until  messengers  of  God  appeared.  They  were  simp^ 
ly  keeping  on  their  dusty  book  shelves,  for  outward  appearance 
only,  the  empty  chrysalides  from  which  the  real  life  weavers  had 
taken  their  tiight. 

Let  us  beware  lest  professors  and  writers  of  theology  in 
Christian  lands,  making  use  of  these  empty  heathen  forms  of 
truth,  spoil  us  by  their  philosophy  and  vain  deceit.  No  matter 
how  many  or  scholarly  these  authors  and  professors,  nor  how 
often  they  repeat  these  ancient  forms,  they  will  avail  nothing 
and  their  repetition  will  only  be  in  vain.  Like  the  Buddhist 
prayer  mills  grindiug  out  the  forms  and  sounds  thereof,  they 
may  think,  says  Christ,  they  shall  be  heard  for  their  much 
speaking. 

But  these  old  word  forms,— clouds  they  are  without  water, 
carried  about  of  winds, — may  be  refilled  and  become  new  creat- 
ures of  usefulness.  But  this,  not  of  themselves  or  by  any  ingen- 
ious device  originating  from  their  pagan  environment,  but  alone 
by  the  quickening  power  of  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God.  When 
the  messengers  of  God  shall  come  with  the  wire  of  living  truth 
and  touch  these  dead,  rusty  dynamos  of  former  truth,  then  there 
will  follow  another  such  a  vision  as  Ezekiel  saw  in  the  valley  of 
dry  bones. 

You  remember  those  bones  were  very  many  and  they  were 
very  dry.  Can  these  bones  live?  was  the  question  which  hung 
tremblingly  unanswered  on  the  prophet's  lips.  Yes,  came  the 
Divine  assurance.  There  was  a  power  from  without,  able  to 
give  life  to  them  within.  Left  to  themselves,  they  would  ever 
have  remained  bones,  dry  bones,  or  worse  still,  bones  moulder- 


ing  into  their  original  dust.  "Hear  ye  the  word  of  the  Lord,'^ 
proclaims  the  prophet  to  these  dead  symbols  of  former  life.  And 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  God  blew  upon  them^  and  they  came  to- 
gether, and  their  former  sinews  and  flesh  and  skin  came  upon 
them,  but  as  yet  there  was  no  life  in  them.  Then  the  prophet 
prophesied  as  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  again  commanded  him,  and 
breath  came  into  them,  and  they  lived,  and  tliere  stood  upon 
their  feet  an  exceeding  great  army. 

So,  today  the  Spirit  of  the  Hving  God  is  blowing  upon  China^ 
and  her  dry  bones  are  coming  together,  each  in  its  place,  and 
the  sinews  and  flesh  and  skin  are  coming  upon  them,  and  finally 
as  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus,  they  shall  stand  upon  their 
feet,  an  exceeding  great  army  of  souls  alive  forever  more. 
Praise  the  Lord  for  his  wonderful  goodness  to  these  lost  children 
of  men,  for  His  wonderful  power  in  the  resurrection  of  their  dry 
bones,  for  the  wonderful  commission  to  His  messengers,  the 
missionaries  of  the  cross,  to  go  into  all  the  lost  world  of  heath- 
endom and,  in  His  name,  work  these  miracles  of  life  from  the 
dead,  for  the  wonderful  privilege  vouchsafed  to  those  at  home 
of  sending  forth  these  laborers  into  the  Lord's  world-wide  mis- 
sion field,  keeping  in  loving  sympathy  and  telegraphic  touch 
with  their  every  need  and  supplying  their  every  comfort. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Does  Nature  Reveal  God? 

It  is  not  unusual,  in  these  days  of  Higher  Criticism,  so- 
called,  to  hear  discourses  on  the  "natural  revelation  of  God." 
Berean-like,  it  becomes  our  duty  as  well  as  our  privilege,  to 
search  the  records  to  find  out  if  these  things  are  so. 

In  trying  to  answer  the  question,  "Does  nature  reveal  God 
to  man?",  we  will  consider — 

1.  Man  without  any  knowledge  of  God. 

2.  Man  whose  ancestors  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 

knowledge. 

3.  Man  who  knows  God,  or  rather,  is  known  of  God. 

But  let  us  first  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  terms  used  by 
the  natural  theologist.  He  seeks  to  establish  the  fact  that  the 
revelation  by  nature  harmonizes  with  the  revelation  contained 


— 49 — 

i 
in  the  scriptures :  hence  that  the  same  God  g-ave  both  revelations 

to  man.    God  in  nature  is,  then,  the  God  of  the  Bible. 

He  further  seeks  to    show  that  man's  knowledge  of  God 

through  nature  is  a  revelation  separate  and  apart  from  Holy 

Writ.    It  comes  to  man's  mind  through  the  medium  of  God's 

creative  works,   and  not  by  the    agency    of    His    Holy    Spirit. 

Hence,  it  is  a  **natural"  as  contra-distinguished  from  a  ''super- 

natuaal"  revelation. 

I.      MAN  WITHOUT  ANY  KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD 

We  will  let  the  man  to  whom  God  was  once  unknown  first 
give  testimony.  But  can  we  summon  such  a  witness?  It  may 
be  true  that  we  have  no  well  authenticated  instance  of  a  man 
who  grew  up  from  infancy  away  from  the  society  of  his  fellows, 
as  children  reported  lost  in  the  woods  and  suckled  by  wolves, 
(See  Footprints  of  Jesus  in  the  Holy  Land  by  Rev.  W.  B.  Godbey, 
p.  28),  and  any  experimenting  along  this  line  would  be  heartless 
and  cruel.  But  living  among  us  today  are  thousands  of  persons 
whose  only  school  has  been  the  school  of  nature.  Their  testi- 
mony will  be  all  the  more  impartial  because  unbiased  by  their 
fellow  men. 

M.  Berthier,  himself  an  educated  deaf  man  and  for  years  a 
professor  in  the  Paris  institution,  says:  "A  deaf  and  dumb  per- 
son without  instruction,  will  never  have  a  notion,  even  vague 
and  confused,  of  a  superior  Existence  whom  it  is  his  duty  to 
love,  revere  and  obey,  and  to  whom  he  must  give  an  account  of 
his  thoughts  and  actions." 

The  author  of  "Children  of  Silence,"  Joseph  A.  Seiss,  D.  D., 
LLD.,  Director  of  the  Penn  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb, 
says  that  "the  deaf,  equally  with  the  hearing,  mostly  have  or- 
gans ample  for  the  use  of  words.  Their  dumbness  is  not  so 
much  a  lack  of  nature  as  a  lack  of  education.  No  one  is  born 
with  the  power  of  speech,  or  else,  left  to  themselves,  all  children 
would  speak  one  and  the  same  language,  and  the  deaf  would 
have  it  as  well  as  the  hearing," 

Dr.  Isaac  L.  Peet  says:  "A  highly  educated  deaf  and  dumb 
gentleman,  in  reply  to  the  question  whether,  previous  to  his  ad- 
mission into  the  institute  where  he  received  his  education,  he 
had  any  idea  of  God,  or  the  origin  of  the  world,  and  the  beings 


—50— 

and  things  it  contains,  used  this  language:  'I  had  none  at  all, 
nor  had  I  any  of  my  own  soul,  for  it  never  occurred  to  me  to 
seek  to  know  what  was  that  within  me  which  thought  and 
willed. 

Dr.  Thomas  H.  Gallendet,  the  father  of  deaf  mute  instruc- 
tion in  this  country,  says:  "I  do  not  think  it  possible  to  pro- 
duce an  instance  of  a  deaf  mute  from  birth,  who,  without  in- 
struction on  the  subject  from  some  friend,  or  at  some  institu- 
tion for  his  benefit,  has  originated  the  idea  of  a  Creator  and 
Moral  Governor  of  the  world." 

A  writer  in  Encyclopedia  American  says:  ''After  extensive 
observation  and  inquiry,  we  cannot  hear  or  find  a  single  instance 
in  which  persons  born  deaf  have  conceived  of  a  First  Cause  from 
a  view  of  the  works  of  nature,  without  education." 

The  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  of  Science  at  Paris  cite  the 
case  of  the  son  of  a  tradesman,  deaf  and  dumb  from  birth,  who» 
at  the  age  of  24,  suddenly  began  to  speak.  Many  divines  imme- 
diately questioned  him  concerning  God  and  the  soul,  but  of 
these  they  found  him  ignorant,  although  he  had  been  a  regular 
attendant  at  mass  and  used  to  making  the  sign  of  the  cross, 

looking  upward,  kneeling  and  using  gestures  of  penitence  and 
prayer. 

Dr.  Harvey  P.  Peet,  Principal  of  New  York  Institution, 
says:  "We  feel  authorized  by  the  evidence  before  us  to  deny 
that  any  deaf  mute  has  given  evidence  of  having  any  innate  or 
self  originating  ideas  of  a  Supreme  Being,  of  a  Creator  or  of  spirit- 
ual existences  or  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments." 

From  all  these  data,  the  general  conclusion  may  be  safely  de- 
duced that  the  idea  of  God  is  not  innate  in  the  human  mind,  and 
that  the  nature  of  man  does  not  even  prompt  him  to  seek  this 
knowledge.  Rev.  Collins  Stone  of  the  Ohio  Institution,  says: 
"The  light  of  divine  truth  never  shines  upon  the  pathway  of  the 
deaf  mute.  Even  in  the  midst  of  Christian  society,  he  must 
grope  his  way  in  darkness  and  gloom  to  the  unknown  scenes  of 
the  future,  unless  some  kind  hand  penetrates  his  solitude  and 
breaks  the  spell  that  holds  him"  from  communion  with  the 
thought  and  feeling  of  the  world."  Happily,  however,  in  the 
institutions  for  their  instruction  which  Christian  philanth  ropy 
has  been  instrumental  in  establishing,  we  have  means  provided 
by  which  God  brings  them  to  a  knowledge  of  himself. 


—51— 

Joseph  A.  Seiss  says  that  at  least  one  in  every  fifteen  hun- 
dred, on  an  average,  is  either  born  without  hearing,  or  loses  hear- 
ing totally  or  virtually,  before  reaching  the  age  of  maturity. 
At  this  rate,  there  are  now  on  earth  about  one  million  of  this 
unfortunate  class.  December  20,  1896  the  twenty-fourth  anni- 
versary of  church  mission  to  deaf  mutes  was  celebrated  at 
Church  of  Incarnation  (Episcopal)  Madison  Ave.  and  35th  St., 
New  York.  Rev.  Austin  W.  Mann,  of  the  Mid- Western  Mission 
was  the  first  deaf  mute  ordained  west  of  the  Alleghanies  and 
has  aided  the  deaf  mute  missions  in  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Kansas 
City,  Indianapolis,  Grand  Rapids,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Colum- 
bus, Dayton,  Cincinnati,  and  Pittsburg.  He  has  also  preached 
in  sign  language  in  England,  Ireland  and  Canada.  There  are 
some  thirty  thousand  or  more  of  this  widely  scattered  people, 
with  about  ten  missionaries  to  look  after  them.  Facts  are 
certainly  worth  more  than  theories.  Here  are  a  million  human 
beings  to  whom  nature  does  not  revesCl  God, —  a  million  living 
witnesses  that  man  is  not,  by  nature  at  least,  a  religious  being. 
And  with  them  agree  the  words  of  scripture:  "Faith  comes  by 
hearing."  and  "how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom  they 
have  not  heard,"  and  "how  shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?" 

In  the  light  of  these  facts,  how  transparent  becomes  the 
proof  of  the  natural  theologist  that  God  exists  because  "the  be- 
lief in  the  existence  of  God  has  characterized  man  in  all  coun- 
tries, times  and  stages  of  civilization."  Imagine  a  learned  D.  D. 
rationalistic  higher  critic  of  today  answering  a  Christian  deaf 
mute  professor  in  the  language  of  his  text-book ;  You  did  know 
God  before  you  was  educated,  but  was  too  ignorant  to  realize  it. 
These  men  who  have  educated  you  have  sinned  in  failing  to  im- 
press this  on  your  mind.  And  then  we  may  hear  the  deaf  pro- 
fessor reply,  as  did  the  man  who  was  born  blind  to  the  Pharisees 
of  Christ's  time ;  Whether  my  educators  be  sinners  I  know  not ; 
one  thing  I  do  know,  that  whereas  I  once  knew  not  God,  now  I 
know  Him,  and  rejoice  in  the  liberty  of  the  gospel  wherein 
Christ  has  set  me  free. 

Man's  religion  is  acquired,  not  born  with  him.  If  the  latter 
were  true,  all  men  would  worship  alike.  But  what  are  the 
facts?  One-fourth  of  the  earth's  population  today  worship  God 
the  Father  and  Jesus  Christ  his  Son,  with  hymns  and  spiritual 


—52— 

songs.  A  larger  number,  called  pagans,  have  as  objects  of  wor- 
ship the  sun,  moon  and  stars,  angels  and  demons,  and  spirts  of 
the  departed,  living  men  and  women,  all  kinds  of  animals,  birds, 
reptiles  and  insects,  trees  and  plants,  rivers  and  mountains  and 
stones,  fire  and  air,  and  besides  these,  images  without  number, 
made  of  all  kinds  of  material  and  in  all  conceivable  forms.  Idols 
of  worship,  at  the  present  time,  are  made  a  lucrative  branch  of 
merchandise  by  a  class  of  manufacturers  and  trades  in  Christian 
as  well  as  in  heathen  lands.  Only  a  short  time  ago,  (1903),  I  read 
of  a  firm  in  Philadelphia  which  makes  and  ships  idols  to  India. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth  and 
all  that  is  therein,  and  throughout  this  whole  creation  there  is 
no  speech  nor  language ;  their  voice  is  not  heard.  To  man  alone 
God  gave  a  living  soul  with  power  to  receive  knowledge  and  to 
teach  it  to  others. 

Man  thus  endowed  and  educated  has  been  able  even  to  open 
the  understanding  of  his  unfortunate  fellows — the  deaf  mutes ; 
but  never  since  the  world  began  has  it  been  known  that  the 
dumb  and  speechless  handiwork  of  God,  in  its  natural  course, 
ever  opened  its  mouth  and  spoke  forth  the  thoughts  of  its  Maker. 
God,  as  revealed  to  us  in  Holy  Writ,  of  old  times  spake  unto  the 
fathers  by  the  prophets,  and  in  these  last  days  unto  us  by  his 
Son ;  but  He  has  not  revealed  His  will  unto  our  fathers  or  unto 
us  through  the  medium  of  nature,  so  far  as  we  have  any  authen- 
tic record. 

II.      MAN  WHOSE  ANCESTORS  DID  NOT   LIKE  TO    RETAIN    GOD    IN 
THEIR   KNOWLEDGE.      GALATIANS  4:8 

But  to  go  a  Step  farther:  Does  nature  reveal  God  to  men 
who  lack  the  truth  once  possessed  by  their  ancestors?  Again 
from  authenticated  evidence,  not  speculative  philosophy,  we 
seek  explanation  of  the  various  stages  of  degradation  in  which 
we  find  the  pagan  world  today. 

The  Bible  is  the  oldest  reliable  history  extant.  Geology  and 
archaeology  written  by  men  are  slowly  but  surely  adjusting 
themselves  to  the  facts  recorded  by  Moses,  and  the  monuments 
are  corroborating  the  incidental  references  to  persons,  places 
and  events  in  the  inspired  record. 

From  the  Bible,  we  learn  that  God  created  man  in  his  own 


f  -53- 

image  and  pronounced  him  very  good ;  but  that  man  disobeyed 
his  Maker  and  became  so  wicked  and  corrupt  that,  by  the  time 
of  Noah,  the  Lord  said,  "I  will  destroy  man  from  the  face  of 
the  earth."  Again,  when  the  descendants  of  Noah  forgot  God 
and  began  to  build  a  tower  unto  heaven,  God  confounded  their 
language  and  scattered  them  abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth.  Thence,  Paul  testifies  although  "knowing  God,  they  glori- 
fied him  not  as  God,  but  became  vain  in  their  reasonings  and 
their  senseless  heart  was  darkened.  Professing  themselves  to 
be  wise,  they  became  fools  and  changed  the  glory  of  the  Incor- 
ruptible God  for  the  likeness  of  corruptible  man  and  birds 
and  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping  things.  And  even  as  they 
refused  to  have  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave  them  up 
unto  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those  things,  which  are  not  fitting." 
And  eight  hundred  million  pagans  today  are  witnesses  to  the 
truth  of  Paul's  statement. 

God  had  made  a  covenant  with  Noah  and  his  sons  and  with 
their  seed  after  them.  How  this  knowledge  was  transmitted  from 
generation  to  generation  may  be  gathered  from  the  writings  of 
Moses,  unto  whom  the  Lord  spoke  face  to  face,  as  a  friend  speak- 
eth  to  a  friend.  "The  Lord  commanded  us,"  says  Moses,  "to  do 
all  these  statutes  for  our  good  always.  And  ye  shall  teach  them 
unto  your  children  and  your  children's  children,  speaking  of 
them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house  and  when  thou  walkest 
by  the  way,  when  thou  liestdown  and  when  thou  risest  up-" 

Thus  were  men  to  be  taught  of  God  in  times  past,  and  thus 
in  these  last  days  the  fuller  revelation  through  his  Son.  God 
has  not,  nor  is  not,  teaching  those  who  sit  in  pagan  darkness  to 
do  as  they  are  doing,  even  through  the  dim  light  of  nature,  else 
their  worship  would  be  acceptable  to  him.  Paul  assures  us  that 
the  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to  demons 
and  not  to  God ;  and  also,  "after  that,  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the 
world  by  its  wisdom  knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the  fool- 
ishness of  preaching  to  save  them  that  believe."    I  Cor.  1:21. 

Paul  also  writes  to  the  Ephesian  converts  that  in  time  past 
they  were  Gentiles  in  the  flesh,  having  no  hope  and  without  God 
in  the  world ;  and  to  the  Galatians  that  when  they  knew  not 
God  they  did  service  unto  them  which  by  nature  are  not  gods. 


—54— 

And  this  is  what  we  find  in  China  today  where  the  gospel  lias 
not  been  preached,  that  they  know  not  God. 

Dr.  Griffith  John,  for  fifty  years  a  missionary  in  China,  says 
that  he  has  never  met  a  heathen  who  knew  the  true  God,  nor 
one  that  was  seeking*  or  feeling  after  the  true  God.  The  gospel 
not  only  did  not  find,  but  had  to  create,  a  desire  for  the  truth. 

Kev.  Wm.  Cornaby,  in  China  more  than  twenty  years,  says 
there  are  those  in  everj  place  who  are  spoken  of  as  good — more 
worthy  than  others ;  some  who  have  no  evil  purpose  to  rob  or 
kill ;  but  he  has  never  yet  found  one,  even  among  such  men,  in 
a  religion  where  the  gospel  has  never  been  preached,  to  whom 
he  did  not  feel  it  his  bounden  duty  to  exhort  to  repent  of  his 
former  ways  of  worship  and  turn  to  the  true  God. 

Rev.  John  Darroch,  a  member  of  the  China  Inland  Mission 
some  fifteen  years,  says  that  a  coolie  who  was  carrying  his  bag- 
gage told  him  that  Yu  Hwang  Ta  Ti  (an  ancient  Chinese 
worthy  born  in  his  own  district)  was  the  Heavenly  Official 
(Tien  Lao  Yie). 

I  myself  have  heard  various  expressions  srom  the  unconvert- 
ed Chinese, — from  the  learned  and  unlearned,  the  rich  and  the 
poor.  A  clerk  from  the  boat  office  opposite  our  street  chapel 
said  that  heaven  (Tien)  was  the  true  God ;  that  his  eyes  were 
the  stars  and  his  ears  were  Yu  Hwang  Ta  Ti  (a  sage  of  the  Han 
dynasty  named  Chang  I) ;  that  Tien  Lao  Yie  (the  heavenly  offi- 
cial) was  another  name  for  the  same,  and  that  he  ruled  over  the 
god  of  wealth  and  all  the  other  gods.  A  teacher  had  heard  that 
Shang  Ti  (the  name  used  by  missionaries)  was  the  true  God,  but 
knew  nothing  further — the  subject  was  too  deep  for  him.  An- 
other teacher  had  heard  that  Tien  Chu  (the  Catholic  term, 
meaning  "Heavenly  Lord")  was  the  true  God,  but  knew  no  more. 

Chang  Ren  Fu,  a  Chinese  evangelist  for  several  years  at  our 
station,  Luchowfu,  thus  relates  his  pre-Christian  experience: 
"My  ancestors  for  four  generations  were  teachers.  Every  morn- 
ing as  I  entered  the  school  room,  I  made  obeisance  to  the  tablet 
of  Confucius  on  the  wall.  Shang  Ti,  the  term  which  Protest- 
ants use  for  God,  I  read  in  the  classics,  but  grew  up  with  the 
idea  that  it  meant  the  Gem  Emperor,  a  man  named  Chang  I, 
born  in  the  Han  dynasty.  I  supposed  that  he  ruled  as  the  high- 
est in  heaven.    It  did  not  enter  my  mind  that  any  of  the  idols 


—55— 

were  false.  At  home,  all  worshipped  the  "heaven-and-earth" 
tablet,  our  ancestors  and  the  Emperor.  No  religious  instruct- 
ion was  given  except  by  these  object  lessons.  On  new  year's 
day  and  other  special  occasions,  incense  and  tapers  were  burned 
before  the  tablet,  and  paper  money  and  fireworks  in  the  open 
court  or  before  the  door.  The  family  kotowed  before  the  tablet, 
the  children  to  their  parents,  and  the  younger  brothers  and  sis- 
ters to  their  elders."  He  learned  from  occasional  contact  with 
Buddhist  and  Taoist  priests  at  the  temples  that  eating  the  flesh 
of  the  cow,  horse,  goose  or  pidgeon  was  sin,  and  he  must  ask  the 
idol  to  remit  it,  or  in  the  next  world  he  would  be  changed  into 
that  animal.  In  worshipping  the  god  of  literature  or  the  Con- 
fucian tablet,  he  secretly  hoped  the  idol  would  help  him  pass 
the  government  examination.  Perhaps  the  god  of  wealth  would 
specially  favor  him  with  good  luck  at  gambling — to  him  a  happy 
thought.  But  neither  priests  nor  idols  could  give  him  any 
assurance  of  sins  remitted,  or  of  positive  good  luck,  and  he  went 
on  in  that  uncertain  state  of  mind,  fearing  eventually  the  tor- 
ture of  the  devils  in  Buddhist  hell.  He  was  thirteen  years  old 
when  he  first  heard  the  gospel  of  salvation  proclaimed  by  a  mis- 
sionary. He  did  not  like  to  hear  it  at  first,  because  his  father 
spoke  disparagingly  of  it.  He  was  baptized  at  the  age  of  28. 
He  has  since  gone  to  his  reward. 

From  all  this  testimony,  the  conclusion  is  irresistible  that 
nature  does  not  reveal  God  to  the  Chinese  whose  ancestors  re- 
fused to  have  Him  in  their  knowledge.  And  China  will  compare 
favorably  with  any  other  country  in  natural  scenery,  wealth  and 
production.  We  have  not  in  all  history  an  instance  of  a  people 
sunken  in  idolatry  ever  of  themselves  rising  to  the  worship  of 
the  one  true  God.  This  cannot  be  from  lack  of  nature's  teach- 
ing, for  nature  is  ever  with  them  and  always  the  same.  The 
conversion  of  a  pagan  to  Christianity  is  not  an  advance  from  a 
dim  and  partial  light  of  God  to  the  full  revelation  of  Him  in 
Christ,  but  a  complete  turning  round  from  the  worship  of  a 
false  to  the  worship  of  the  true  and  living  God.  And  this 
accords  with  the  action  of  the  people  of  Lystra  in  Paul's  time. 
When  they  saw  the  crippled  healed,  they  cried  out,  "The  gods 
have  come  down  to  us  in  the  likeness  of  men."  And  they  called 
Barnabas  Jupiter  and  Paul  Mercury,  and  would  have  done  sac- 


—56— 

ritice,  but  Paul  and  Barnabas  exhorted  them  to  turn  from  these 
vain  things  to  the  living  God, 

But  perhaps  some  admirer  of  Socrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle 
is  eager  to  ask,  Whence  came  their  term  for  god,  C^o  Theos),  and 
what  did  it  mean?  Let  their  own  writings  give  answer.  They 
contended  that  every  common  term,  as  man,  tree,  mountain, 
was  the  name  of  something  really  existing.  For  example,  in 
addition  to  this,  that  and  the  other  particular  mountain, 
visible  to  the  sense,  there  is  really  existing  mountain  in  the 
abstract.  This  collective  term  was  made  up  of  the  properties 
common  to  all  the  particular  mountains  classified.  Hence,  the 
common  term  "theos"  was  to  them  a  name  comprehending  the 
real  or  imaginary  properties  common  to  some  or  all  of  their  gods, 
as  they  chose  to  make  it  local  or  universal.  Some  have  attempt- 
ed to  read  into  their  word  "god"  all  that  the  word  means  to  us 
today,  but  certainly  no  scholar  would  define  Plato's  use  of  it  by 
any  knowledge  other  than  that  known  to  Plato.  Imagination 
can  only  re-combine  such  ideas  as  association,  phantasy  and  mem- 
ory furnish.  What  remains  of  classic  Greek  literature  shows 
that  all  their  association  of  god-ideas  was  idolatrous.  Is  it  not 
high  time,  then,  that  writers  of  Christian  evidence  stop  trying 
to  prove  the  existence  of  God  by  the  same  argument  the  heath- 
en philosopher  Plato  used  in  Laws,  Book  X,  to  prove  the  exist- 
ence of  the  gods,  viz:  "the  fact  that  all  Hellenes  and  barbarians 
believe  in  them?"  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of 
the  spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  God  is  Spirit 
and  must  be  spiritually  discerned.  Hence,  not  even  the  nature 
of  man  can  reveal  God,  for  it  can  no  more  reveal  that  which  it 
does  not  possess  than  nature  outside  of  man  can  reveal  other 
than  the  things  of  nature. 

Ought  we  not  then  to  scrutinize  very  carefully  the  creden- 
tials of  any  man  who  claims  to  give  us  a  revelation  of  God  from 
nature?  But  Natural  Theology  is  here;  we  have  large  treatises 
on  the  subject,  and  students  are  required  to  study  it  in  text- 
books on  Christian  evidences.  It  must  be  satisfactorily  account- 
ed for.  Whence  came  it?  Here  we  are  on  the  sure  ground  of 
history.  The  Encyclopedia  Britannica  states  that,  as  a  distinct 
science,  it  may  be  dated  from  the  publication  of  Eaymond  de 
Sebonde's  Thelogia  Naturalis  in  1436,  although  portions  of  it 


—57— 

had  been  admirably  presented  by  ancient  philosophers,  as  Socra- 
tes, Plato,  Aristotle  and  Cicero.  But  what  authority  had  Ray- 
mond de  Sebonde,  a  Spanish  monk,  to  give  us  a  revelation  of 
God,  natural  or  otherwise?  He  presented  no  credentials  that  he 
was  either  prophet  or  the  son  of  a  prophet.  He  asserted  that 
God  had  given  us  two  books,  the  book  of  nature  and  the  book  of 
scripture.  Now  we  know  that  the  book  of  scripture  was  given 
by  men  of  old  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  what 
spirit  moved  Sebonde  to  write  his  book  of  natural  revelation? 
The  Britannica  well  suggests  that  it  was  the  spirit  of  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans.  But  will  Christian  students  be  better  fit- 
ted to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  by  being  taught  the  wise  (?) 
sayings  of  heathen  philosophers  as  the  natural  revelation  of  God? 
Yet  in  a  book  written  by  a  late  professor  of  Bangor  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  is  this  remarkable  statement:  "Christian  theo- 
logy finds  a  place  in  its  system  for  all  the  doctrines  of  natural 
theology." 

But  is  it  not  strange  that  some  one  of  the  numerous  authors 
on  this  subject  has  not  ventured  to  put  in  type  a  chapter  or  a 
paragraph  of  this  natural  revelation  in  the  exact  words  God  gave 
it  to  him?  Joseph  Smith,  the  Mormon,  was  more  consistent  at 
least.  He  not  only  claimed  to  have  a  revelation  from  God,  but 
he  produced  the  book,  false  as  it  was  afterward  proved  to  be. 

I  once  asked  the  Bible  professor  in  a  Christian  College  to 
give  one  paragraph  of  the  natural  revelation, — one  which  he 
could  set  off  by  quotation  marks  and  say,  "These  are  God's  words 
to  man  through  nature."  His  answer  was:  "Oh,  that's  easy 
enough ;  there  are  numerous  sayings — I  do  not  recall  any  just 
now — yes,  I  think  of  one, — Plato  said,  "Do  unto  men  as  you 
would  have  them  do  unto  you."  But  the  same  Plato  says:  "The 
soul  of  the  sun  is  a  god,  because  it  carries  the  sun  about  in  a 
chariot  to  give  light  to  man."  Will  any  one  claim  that  this  last 
saying  was  a  revelation  from  God?  I  think  not,  but  Plato  him- 
self goes  farther,  for  he  does  not  claim  to  have  received  either 
saying  from  God.  Can  it  be  that  Plato  was  more  honest  than 
this  Christian  professor?    And  Plato  a  pagan  1 

On  another  occasion,  this  same  professor  was  asked.  Do  you 
know  enough  revelation  from  nature,  apart  from  the  Bible,  that 
you  would  dare  to  preach  to  a  man  who  asked  you,  What  must  I 


—58— 

do  to  be  saved?  The  answer  was,  "Yes  sir,  plenty  of  it,"  but 
suffice  it  to  say  that  such  revelation  has  never  materialized  up- 
on paper. 

Cliristian  students,  slowly  but  surely  is  this  barnacle  of  nat- 
ural theology  gathering  about  the  gospel  of  Christ,  as  did  the 
sayings  of  the  scribes  and  traditions  of  the  elders  about  the  Old 
Testament  law.  If  we  do  not  cast  it  off,  Christ  may  say  of  us, 
as  of  the  Pharisees  of  old,  "In  vain  do  ye  worship  me,  teaching 
for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men." 

Some  professors  talk  learnedly  of  primitive  man  in  na- 
ture worship  gradually  rising  by  the  law  of  evolution  to  the 
knowledge  and  civilization  of  God's  people.  This  can  no  more 
occur  than  evolution  in  Christianity.  For  instance,  if  one 
Christian  commenced  where  another  left  off,  there  might  be 
some  excuse  for  such  theology,  but  we  know  that  each  individu- 
al must  begin  as  a  babe  in  Christ  and  go  on  toward  perfection. 
It  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  Master ;  he  can 
never  surpass  the  perfection  of  God.  Jesus  was  the  sinless  Man. 
None  of  the  millions  who  have  since  lived  has  attained  unto  the 
full  stature  of  man  in  Christ  Jesus.  History  shows  the  tendency 
of  human  nature  to  be  retrogression  (devolution  instead  of  evo- 
lution) from  a  perfect  orignal.  The  connecting  link  of  evolu- 
tion in  righteousness  from  one  generation  to  another  has  yet  to 
be  found.  Paul  speaks  of  himself  as  the  chief  of  sinners,  and  of 
Peter  that  he  withstood  him  to  the  face  because  he  was  to  be 
blamed.  Martin  Luther  had  his  faults ;  John  Wesley  repented 
oft,  and  Alexander  Campell  was  far  from  perfect.  Therefore,  if 
the  Christian  man  cannot  attain  perfection  in  this  world  with 
all  the  help  of  the  divine  spirit,  we  can  readily  see  how  impossi- 
ble it  is  for  the  natural  man  to  rise  higher  than  his  natural  en- 
vironment without  outside  aid. 

in.      MAN  WHO  HAS  KNOWN  GOD,  OR  RATHER  IS  KNOWN 
OF    GOD. — GALATIANS  4:9 

A  learned  friend,  wrote  me  in  this  wise:  "I  read  your  essay 
with  interest,  but  cannot  understand  just  what  your  object  is  in 
attempting  to  prove  that  nature  does  not  reveal  God.  A  house 
reveals  something  that  the  architect  has  or  had  in  mind :  of 
course,  it  does  not  reveal  the  whole  architect.  If  it  is,  for  in- 
stance, an  orphan  asylum,  and  you  know  that  the  builder  used 


—59— 

only  his  own  means,  you  conclude  that  he  was  benevolent  and 
humane.  We  may  thus  reason  out  some  of  the  qualities  and 
powers  of  the  Maker  of  the  universe ;  our  conclusions  would 
probably  be  right  in  some  respect,  and  wrong  in  some  respects. 
"Natural  laws"  are  only  God's  ways  of  working,  and  if  the  crea- 
tion reveals  to  some  extent  the  Creator,  this  ought  not  to  be  a 
cause  of  alarm  to  the  believer  in  God." 

Here  we  see  the  need  of  strict  definition  of  words.  The  pro- 
fessor evidently  uses  the  word  "reveal"  in  its  general  sense  of 
"divulge,  discloses,  show,  etc."  Whereas  he  should  have  seen 
from  the  very  title  of  the  essay,  "Does  nature  reveal  God?"  that  I 
used  the  word  in  its  specific  sense,  meaning  "to  communicate 
that  which  could  not  be  known  or  discovered  without  divine  or 
supernatural  instruction."  The  house,  in  his  illustration,  gives 
no  hint  that  there  is  anything  supernatural  in  the  method  or 
subject-matter  of  its  communication.  Had  it  communicated 
the  name  of  the  architect,  as  to  Isaiah  was  given  in  advance  the 
name  of  Cyrus,  it  would  have  been  a  case  in  point.  In  the  or- 
phan asylum  illustration,  the  conclusion  of  "benevolence"  is  de- 
duced from  the  fact  already  known  that  the  builder  used  only 
his  own  means ;  in  other  words,  the  premises  of  a  syllogism  were 
given,  and  it  only  remained  to  draw  the  logical  conclusion.  No 
supernatural  instruction  was  revealed.  And  it  is  by  use  of  this 
illustration  (which  we  see  does  not  illustrate)  that  the  professor 
proves  (that  which  needed  no  proof)  that  the  creation  "shows" 
to  some  extent  the  Creator  "to  the  believer  in  God"  ;  for  he  says, 
"We  (who  believe  in  God)  may  thus  reason  out  some  of  the 
qualities  and  powers  of  the  Maker  of  the  universe."  Why,  we 
who  believe  in  God  need  not,  in  the  first  place,  to  reason  out  the 
Creator  from  the  things  created ;  we  had  that  fact  communicat- 
ed to  us  by  supernatural  instruction — the  word  of  God — before 
we  became  believers.  For  how  could  we  have  believed  in  Him 
of  whom  we  had  not  heard?  And  how  could  we  have  heard 
without  a  preacher  or  teacher? 

The  professor  makes  the  mistake  of  some  others  in  failing  to 
distinguish  the  two  classes  who  observe  God's  universe,  viz: 
those  who  know  and  those  who  do  not  know  God.  To  the  former 
class,  the  bounty  of  providence  and  works  of  creation  witness  to 
God's  goodness  and  spoken  truth,  declare  his  glory,  and  show 


—60— 

forth  His  power  and  divinity ;  to  the  other  class,  the  creation  of 
things  and  course  of  nature  are  variously  accredited  to  Osiris, 
Ormazd,  "laws",  blind  chance,  a  great  egg,  and  a  whole  lot  of 
other  absurd  things. 

Let  us  give  a  concrete  illustration  of  each  class.  The  nine- 
teenth Psalm  shows  us  how  men  who  have  known  God  observe 
His  works,  as  follows:  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handiwork.  Day  unto  day 
uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge. 
There  is  no  speech  nor  language ;  their  voice  is  not  heard.  Their 
line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  In  them  hath  he  set  a  tabernacle  for  the  sun, 
which  is  as  a  bridegroom  coming  out  of  his  chamber,  and  re- 
joiceth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race.  His  going  forth  is  from 
the  end  of  heaven,  and  his  circuit  unto  the  ends  of  it ;  and  there 
is  nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof."    Note: 

1.  That  the  speaker  is  the  "sweet  singer  of  Israel",  David, 
a  man  after  God's  own  heart. 

2.  That  he  speaks  to  God. 

3.  That  his  object  in  speaking  is  to  praise  God,  to  whom  he 
prays  that  his  words  and  meditations  may  be  acceptable. 

4.  That  his  language  is  paradoxical.  While  he  apparently 
makes  "the  heaven  declare,  the  day  utter  speech,  and  the  night 
show  knowledge",  he  is  quick  to  explain  that  this  is  only  done 
by  way  of  poetic  license  (a  figure  of  speech  called  personification) : 
that,  in  fact,  the  heavens,  firmanent,  day  and  night  do  not  pos- 
sess articulate  speech,  for  "their  voice  is  not  heard ;  there  is  no 
speech  nor  language."    Just  as,  for  example,  another  poet  has 

said: 

"When  Music,  heavenly  maid,  was  young; 

While  yet  in  early  Greece  she  sung." 

It  was  perhaps  farthest  from  David's  thought  that  centuries 
afterwards,  notwithstanding  his  cautionary  explanation  to  the 
contrary,  his  words  would  be  taken  literally  to  mean  that  God 
does  actually  give  the  heavens,  firmament,  day  and  night  intel- 
ligible voice,  so  that  not  only  is  the  man  of  God  edified  thereby, 
but  that  all  those  who  have  forgotten  God  (who,  in  ignorance  of 
Him,  are  walking  in  their  own  rebellious,  unrighteous  ways)  are 
also  daily,  nightly  listening  understandingly  to  this  speech. 


—61— 

Matthew  Henry,  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  says: 
''AH  people  may  hear  these  natural,  immortal  preachers  speak 
to  them  in  their  own  tongue  the  wonderful  works  of  God."  If 
those  people  of  the  world  who  have  forgotten  God  are  thus  hear- 
ing these  natural  preachers,  they  must  be  the  ones  mentioned  by 
Paul  to  Timothy  who  are  ever  learning  and  never  able  to  come 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.  2  Tim.  3:7.  For  in  China,  people 
ignorant  of  the  cause  of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  collect  in  excitable 
crowds,  beat  gongs,  explode  firecrackers,  beseech  idols,  and 
make  great  outcries  to  frighten  away  the  dog  monster  that  is 
trying  to  swallow  the  sun. 

But  Paul  does  not  so  understand  this  passage,  as  may  be  seen 
from  his  use  of  words  in  Romans  10:18,  viz:  "But  I  say, 
Have  they  not  heard?  Yes,  verily,  their  sound  went  into  all  the 
earth,  and  their  words  into  the  ends  of  the  world."  Referring 
this  to  the  Gentiles,  says  Meyer's  commentary,  is  quite  foreign 
to  the  connection.  The  subject  is  those  who  remained  unbeliev- 
ing (of  verse  16),  by  whom  Paul  certainly  means  the  Jews,  al- 
though without  expressing  it  directly  and  exclusively.  Paul 
clothes  in  these  sacred  words  the  expression  of  the  going  forth 
everywhere  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  "Their  sound" 
means  the  sound  which  the  preachers  send  forth  when  they 
preach."  This,  although  Meyer  is  not  free  from  the  general  er- 
ror of  natural  theologist  when  he  says  the  subject  of  Psalm  19:4 
is  the  universally  diffused  natural  revelation  of  God.  Paul,  on 
the  other  hand,  writing  to  the  Colossians  (1:23)  says:  "Be  not 
moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel  which  ye  have  heard, 
and  which  was  preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under  heaven ; 
whereof  I  Paul  am  made  a  minister."  Here  the  preaching  is  by  a 
mode  of  speaking  quite  natural,  and  the  hearing  is  likewise  by  a 
very  natural  phenomenon  of  every  day  life.  There  is  no  mention 
of  an  unnatural  preacher,  as  the  stars,  or  of  an  unnatural  pro- 
cess of  hearing  by  having  to  interpret  inarticulate  speech  or  un- 
intelligible language.  Paul  brings  the  meaning  down  out  of  the 
airy  heights  of  figurative  speech,  and  gives  the  words  their 
usual  force  and  effect. 

Now  it  is  to  this  very  passage  of  Scripture,  the  nineteenth 
Psalm,  that  the  natural  theologist  turns  with  the  most  compla- 
cent assurance  when  he  would  prove  to  the  Christian  (for  I  trow 


—62— 

he  would  be  among  the  last  to  go  as  a  missionary  to  prove  it  to 
the  heathen)  that  God  has  given  us  two  books— the  book  of 
nature  and  the  book  of  revelation.  His,  he  blandly  asserts,  is  a 
theology  not  based  on  revelation.  But  he  continues  to  the  man 
who  professes  to  believe  the  Bible,  this  Psalm  is  the  ultima 
thule  of  demonstration  that  all  men  have  a  religious  instinct,— 
a  tendency  of  mind  to  worship  something  higher  than  them- 
selves. It  is  proof  positive  that  the  works  of  creation  do  reveal 
God  to  man,  and  thus  all  nations,  especially  those  lowest  in  the 
scale  of  knowledge,  are  taught  of  God.  Through  nature,  though 
dimly  perhaps,  they  all  are  thus  enabled  to  look  up  to  their 
Creator,  the  Ruler  and  Giver  of  all  things. 

But  unfortunately  for  the  natural  theologist's  theory,  not 
one  of  these  lowest  tribes  cited  asserts  that  "the  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God",  or  that  "the  firmament  showeth  His  handi- 
work." This  fact  is  so  significant,  the  wonder  is  that  men, 
apparently  sincere,  have  so  long  overlooked  it.  Even  so  ration- 
alistic a  student  as  Max  Muller  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  truth 
when  he  asked:  "Can  it  be  said  that  a  monotheistic  instinct 
could  have  been  implanted  in  all  those  nations  which  adored 
Elohim,  Jehovah,  Moloch,  Dagon,  Baal,  Ashtoroth,  the  sun,  the 
moon,  the  planets,  and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven?"  "Yet",  com- 
ments Geikie,  "all  these  divinities  were  worshipped  by  Semitic 
peoples." 

Why  is  it  that  all  others  except  the  men  who  have  known 
God, — all  those  groping  in  the  darkness  of  their  own  benighted 
minds,  if  they  speak  at  all  on  the  subject,  say  that  the  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  this,  that  or  another  god,  according  as  their 
philosophy  or  superstition  teaches?  This  question  should  at 
least  make  us  pause  for  investigation.  Note  the  comparison 
between  the  words  of  a  man  of  God  and  of  those  absorbed  in  the 
wisdom  of  this  world,  or  in  heathen  darkness  dwelling: 

David,  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  says:     "The  heavens 

declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handi- 
work." 

On  the  contrary,  the  Brahman,  see  the  Sama-Veda,  says: 

"Brahma,  the  father  of  all  creatures,  came  into  existence  from 

a  great  egg,  which  shone  with  golden  splendor.    The  generation 

of  Brahma  was  before  all  ages  unfolding  himself  evermore  in  a 
beautiful  glory." 


—63— 

The  Buddhist,  see  the  Pali  sacred  books,  says:  "The  world 
consists  of  two  orders  of  existence — an  infinite  multitude  of 
souls  (insects,  animals,  men),  and  the  inflexible  laws  of  nature. 
The  hermit  of  Sayka,  only  a  man,  was  deified  after  death  and 
called  Buddha.  He  became  an  infinite  being  by  entering*  Nir- 
vana, which  is  neither  in  the  sky  above  nor  in  the  earth  below, 
yet  it  exists." 

The  Zoroastrian,  see  the  oldest  part  of  the  Avesta,  the 
Gathas,  says:  "Zerana-Akerana,  in  order  to  destroy  the  evil 
which  Ahriman  had  caused,  determined  to  create  the  visible 
world  by  Ormazd.  And  Ormazd  created  for  his  aid  the  whole 
shining  host  of  heaven."    T.  G.  K.  195. 

The  Egyptian,  as  gleaned  from  his  theology,  says  that  Osiris, 
the  sun,  brought  forth  the  seven  great  planetary  gods,  and  then 
the  twelve  humbler  gods  of  the  signs  of  the  zodiac;  they,  in 
their  turn,  producing  the  twenty-eight  gods  presiding  over  the 
stations  of  the  moon,  the  sevency-two  divine  companions  of  the 
sun,  and  other  deities." 

The  Grecian,  see  ancient  history,  says:  "Zeus,  god  of 
storms,  ruler  of  the  atmosphere,  wielder  of  the  lightning,  the 
favorite  divinity  of  the  Aryan  race,  became  Indra  when  he 
reached  India,  and  Jupiter  when  he  arrived  in  Italy." 

The  Roman,  see  history  of  Rome,  says:  "Jupiter  carries 
the  lightning,  and  is  the  supreme  god  of  the  skies.  The  Juno 
of  the  Capitol  is  Queen  of  Heaven." 

The  Scandinavian,  describing  the  universe  before  the  great 
Ymir  lived,  saj^s:  "The  sons  of  Bors  lifted  the  dome  of  heaven 
and  created  the  vast  Midgard  (earth)  below.  The  sun  of  the 
south,  companion  of  the  moon,  held  the  horses."    T-  G.  R.  365. 

The  Chinese  Taoist  says:  "The  Tao  was  before  the  gods, 
and  is  the  origin  of  heaven  and  earth.  As  that  which  can  be 
named,  it  is  the  mother  of  all  things." 

The  Confucianist,  see  Chinese  philosophy,  says:  "The 
Grand  Extreme  is  the  one  highest  ultimate  principle  of  all 
existence.  It  operates  by  ceaseless  active  and  passive  pulsa- 
tions, which  originate  all  material  and  mortal  existences." 

The  Shintoist,  see  religions  of  Japan,  acknowledges  a 
Supreme  Being  who  inhabits  highest  heaven  (but  who  is  too 


—64— 

great  to  require  any  worship),  and  a  multitude  of  lesser  divin- 
ities who  govern  earth,  air,  water  and  the  human  race." 

The  Deist  claims  that  nature  and  reason  are,  and  should  be, 
his  only  and  true  guide  in  moral  and  religious  matters." 

The  Atheist  denies  the  existence  of  a  Creator  and  Supreme 
Ruler  of  the  universe,  and  believes  that  all  things  exist  and  oc- 
cur simply  by  chance — without  law,  design  or  cause. 

The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  "There  is  no  God." 

We  see  from  the  above  that  those  who  did  not  like  to  retain 
God  in  their  knowledge,  and  so  forgot  Him,  make  statements 
none  of  which  are  true  and  all  of  which  are  mutually  contradic- 
tory. Their  foolish  hearts  have  become  thus  darkened,  because 
that  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  Him  not  as  God,  but 
turned  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie.  And  so  to  them,  the  heav- 
ens declare  the  glory  of  they  know  not  what.  But  evermore 
still,  to  the  men  who  know  God, 

"The  spangled  heavens,  a  starry  frame, 
Their  Great  Oriental  proclaim ; 
******* 

Forever  singing  as  they  shine, 
The  Hand  that  made  us  is  divine." 

To  these  Davids,  the  invisible  things  of  God  from  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world,  even  His  wondrous  power  and  Godhead,  are 
clearly  seen.  Not  with  the  natural  eyes,  of  course,  for  the  nat- 
ural man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  neither 
can  he  know  them,  for  they  are  spiritually  discerned,  I  Cor.  2:14. 
It  is  by  the  eye  of  faith  that  the  things  invisible  are  seen,  being 
understood  by  the  things  that  are  made.  For  faith  is  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen.  Philip  said,  "Show  us  the  Father  and 
it  sufflcieth  us."  Jesus  said  unto  Philip,  "Have  I  been  so  long 
time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me?  he  that  hath 
seen  me,  hath  seen  the  Father."  John  14:9.  Through  faith, 
then,  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word 
of  God,  so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things 
which  do  appear.  Heb.  11:3.  We  look  not  at  the  things  which 
are  seen,  but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen :  for  the  things 
which  are  seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not 
seen   are   eternal.    2  Cor.  4:18.     And  this  agrees  with  Rom. 


—65— 

10:17,  which  says:  Faith  comes  by  hearing  and  hearing  by  the 
word  of  God.  So  that  only  those  who,  by  tradition,  folklore, 
literature,  God's  messenger,  or  in  some  other  way,  have  heard 
the  word  of  God  can,  through  faith,  see  the  invisible  things  of 
Him,  and  so  teach  them  to  others.  It  is  all  plain,  then,  why 
the  heathen  in  their  blindness,  falling  down  to  wood  and  stone, 
never  say,  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,,'  for  they  have 
long  since  forgotten  God  and  God's  word.  And  how  shall  they 
again  hear  without  a  preacher? 

Now  all  men  at  the  beginning  knew  that  God  is  the  Creator 
and  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift,  for  God  told  them  so. 
And  His  works  of  creation  and  bounty  of  providence  are  perpet- 
ual witnesses  to  His  spoken  truth.  The  man,  then,  who  first  so 
far  allowed  himself  to  forget  God  that  the  on-going  universe  and 
never-ceasing  providences  no  longer  reminded  him  of  his  duty, 
to  his  Maker  and  Preserver,  has  no  excuse  or  cloak  for  his  un- 
faithfulness and  unrighteousness.  Ah,  just  here  is  the  starting 
point  of  all  man's  idolatrous  rebellion  against  his  Maker, — his 
awful  sin  of  unfllialness  and  unthankf ulness.  For  God  left  not 
himself  without  witness.  Man  need  never  have  lost  God's  spok- 
en truth,  for  there  were  daily,  nightly  reminders  of  it.  The 
rainbow  and  the  rains,  the  sunshine  and  the  stars,  the  seasons 
and  the  harvests  are  perpetual  witnesses  of  God's  covenant  with 
goodness  to  mankind. 

Now  the  mere  mention  of  witnesses  implies  a  plaintiff.  For 
without  a  plaintiff,  there  can  be  no  action  brought  into  court, 
and  consequently,  no  need  of  witnesses.  Now  God  is  the  Great 
Plaintiff  in  this  case.  He  has  appeard  in  tlie  court  of  earth, 
and  said:  "I  created  heaven  and  earth  and  all  things.  Man  I 
made  in  mine  own  image,  and  gave  him  life  and  food  and  do- 
minion. When  lie  strayed  into  the  by-ways  of  sin,  I  sent  mine 
only  Son  to  seek  and  to  save  him.  I  AM  that  I  AM ;  these  are 
my  witnesses." 

Now  witnesses  may  be  either  mute  or  personal.  A  mute 
witness  may  be  dumb,  as  a  star,  or  without  intelligible  speech, 
as  an  ourangoutang. — e.  g.,  "There  is  no  speech  nor  language; 
their  voice  is  not  heard."  Personal  witnesses  are  those  who 
testify  for  themselves,  or  by  proxy.    A  proxy  may  be  an  inter- 


—m— 

preter,  or  other  duly  authorized  agent.— e,  g.,  "Though  I  bear 
record  of  myself,  yet  my  record  is  true ;  for  I  know  whence  I  came 
and  whither  I  go. — John  8:14.  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  so 
send  I  you.— John  20:21.  Mute  witnesses  cannot  of  them- 
selves testify,  but  may  be  adduced  in  support  of  or  to  corrobor- 
ate the  evidence  of  personal  witnesses.— e,  g.,  "Laban  said  to 
Jacob,  This  heap  of  stones  be  witness  betwixt  me  and  thee." 
Gen.  31:52.  The  Psalmist  said:  "The  heavens  declare  tlie 
glory  of  God.— Ps.  19:1. 

Thus,  from  the  brightness  of  the  heavens,  we,  who  have  not 
forgotten  God  may  understand  how  it  is  that  the  Creator  is 
light ;  their  vastness  of  extent  bespeak  to  us  His  immensity ; 
their  height  His  transcendance  and  sovereignty ;  their  influence 
upon  this  earth  His  dominion  and  providence  and  universal  ben- 
eficence; and  all  declare  His  almighty  power,  by  which  they 
were  first  made,  and  continue  to  this  day  according  to  the  ordi- 
nances that  were  then  established."  "Day  unto  day  .  .  .  and 
night  unto  night"  is  the  established  order  according  to  His  cove- 
nant with  Noah  (Gen.  8:22),  that  while  the  earth  remaineth,  day 
and  night  shall  not  cease.— M.  Henry. 

God's  providence  and  creation  (excluding  man)  are  the  mute 
witnesses  to  His  spoken  truth.  God  chose  holy  men  of  old  to  be 
His  personal  witnesses  on  earth,  duly  authorizing  and  accredit- 
ing them  by  the  gift  of  His  Spirit ;  and  in  these  latter  days,  God's 
Son  chose  the  apostles  and  after  them  the  faithful  disciples,  seal- 
ing them  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  saying  "Ye  shall  be 
my  witnesses  both  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Judea,  and  in  Samaria, 
and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth. — Acts  1:8. 

We  have  now  seen  that  nature  does  not  reveal  God  to  men 
who  have  no  knowledge  of  Him,  nor  to  men  whose  ancestors  re- 
fused to  have  God  in  their  knowledge,  but  we  may  all,  welcome 
the  glad  tidings  that,  under  the  efforts  of  Christ's  witnesses,  the 
wildernesses  and  waste  places  of  the  earth  are  beginning  to  re- 
joice and  blossom  with  the  rose  of  Sharon.  The  missionaries  at 
home  and  abroad  are  nobly  striving  to  carry  our  Christ's  march- 
ing orders.  This  is  God's  method  of  teaching  all  men,  and 
man  cannot  improve  upon  it.  God  has  spoken  directly  to  His 
chosen  servants,  and  through  them  to  the  people ;  thenceforth 


—67— 

holy  men  are  to  be  teachers  of  men.  It  is  interesting  to  hear 
from  these  missionaries  of  the  cross,  as  they  send  back  reports 
of  trials  and  triumphs  from  the  forefront  of  battle,  as  it  were. 

Dr.  Griffith  John  tells  of  two  cases  of  conversion  on  first 
hearing  the  gospel.  In  one  place,  a  Mr.  Shan,  a  strictly  moral 
man,  was  devoutly  worshipping  idols,  with  no  idea  of  the  true 
God.  On  hearing  the  gospel,  he  immediately  said.  That  is  the 
true  doctrine.  Within  a  week  he  was  a  convert  to  our  perfect 
satisfaction,  a  believer  in  the  true  God.  From  that  time,  he  has 
been  growing  in  brightness  day  by  day,  and  is  now  a  prominent 
preacher  of  the  Word.  The  other  case  was  a  man  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  explain  the  sacred  edict.  He  was  also  a  great 
gambler.  He  came  one  day  and  listened  to  the  gospel,  and 
believed  it  at  once.  He  then  came  regularly  to  the  services. 
Within  the  first  year  of  his  baptism,  he  brought  in  eleven  peo- 
ple from  his  own  village.  The  second  year  he  was  taken  on  as 
assistant  evangelist." 

Rev.  Wm.  Cornaby  relates  a  singular  conversion  in  David 
Hill's  work.  One  night  Mr.  Hill  prayed  that  at  the  next  night's 
meeting  some  man  would  repent  and  become  a  follower  of  Jesus. 
This  actually  occurred,  for  the  man  who  came  forward  the  next 
night  said,  as  he  did  so,  I  want  to  repent  of  my  sins  and  follow 
Jesus.  He  soon  became  a  preacher,  and  has  continued  until  to- 
day, one  of  the  most  prominent.  But  the  strange  thing  about 
the  case,  and  which  perhaps  Mr.  Hill  never  knew,  was  what 
this  man  told  me  afterwards.  "Do  you  know  why  I  came  out 
that  night?"  he  queried.  "No",  I  replied.  Well,  said  he,  "I 
had  been  in  business,  and  got  into  financial  straits  worse  and 
worse  until  one  day  I  went  up  on  the  pagoda,  and  it  was  a 
question  in  my  mind  whether  I  would  throw  myself  off  or  not.  I 
heard  of  this  preaching  in  some  way,  and  I  went  to  the  hall  that 
night.  I  listened  to  the  speaker  and  said  to  myself.  Why  can't 
I,  with  a  little  application,  in  a  short  time  outdo  that  man  as  a 
preacher?  I  will  join  his  society.  Something  within  said.  No, 
you  don't  want  to  join  yourself  to  the  hated  foreigner—all  my 
former  prejudice  was  against  doing  so.  But  my  financial  trou- 
bles outweighed  these  suggestions,  and  I  went  up  and  told  the 
preacher,  I  wanted  to  repent  and  be  a  Jesus'  man.  I  was  taken 
in,  and  sure  enough,  by  strict  application,  I  soon  had  the  script- 


—68— 

ures  so  that  I  could  tell  them  off  in  glowing  language,  as  I  had 
supposed."  He  thus  became  a  preacher,  and  after  preaching  to 
others  for  a  long  time,  and  getting  more  light  himself,  he  finally 
came  to  real  repentance  and  faith  in  Jesus  as  his  Savior. 

Rev.  George  Nichol,  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  China 
Inland  Mission,  says:  "When  laboring  in  Chungking,  West 
China,  I  met  a  Confucian  scholar  whom  the  literati  of  that  city 
called  the  "small  sage"  on  account  of  his  literal  adherance  in 
his  daily  life  to  the  teachings  of  the  great  sage.  It  was  through 
being  asked  to  visit  his  sick  father,  an  old  man  of  94,  that  I  got 
to  know  him  personally.  The  attention  he  paid  me,  especially 
on  arriving  at  or  departing  from  his  home,  was  such  as  I  have 
never  met  with  elsewhere  in  China.  He  showed  loving  rever- 
ence and  tender  care  towards  his  aged  father.  The  common 
people  looked  up  to  him  with  respect,  and  owned  him  the  most 
upright  and  honorable  man  in  the  whole  of  that  populous  dis- 
trict. As  a  scholar,  he  had  taken  the  second  degree  at  the  gov- 
ernment examinations,  his  younger  brother  being  a  graduate  of 
the  first  degree.  From  the  time  of  our  first  meeting  a  friend- 
ship was  formed  between  us  which  lasted  till  his  death.  He  had 
never  heard  the  gospel,  and  it  became  my  privilege,  through 
conversation  and  by  Christian  literature,  to  make  known  to  him 
the  good  news  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ.  After  I  had 
known  him  about  four  years,  he  was  taken  seriously  ill,  and  his 
brother  came  for  me  to  visit  him.  I  went  to  his  home,  and  on 
entering  the  room  in  which  he  lay,  I  found  him  repeating  some- 
what vehemently,  "The  idols  cannot  save  me,  the  idols  cannot 
save  me",  after  saying  which  he  spat  again  and  again  to  show 
his  utter  contempt  for  the  idols,  then  added  in  the  same  intense 
tone,  "The  goddess  of  mercy  cannot  save  me,  the  goddess  of  mer- 
cy cannot  save  me."  And  then  in  a  quiet,  gentle  voice,  and  a 
ring  of  faith  in  his  words,  he  said,  "Jesus  can  save  me,  Jesus 
can  save  me."  He  took  no  notice  of  my  entering,  and  his  broth- 
er foolishly  said,  "Jesus  has  come  to  see  you",  but  to  this  the 
sick  man  paid  no  heed.  I  chided  the  brother  for  what  he  said, 
and  then  he  told  him  that  Li  Shin  Tien  (my  Chinese  name)  has 
come  to  see  you.  The  sick  man  paused  for  a  moment,  and  then 
slowly  said,  Li  Shin  Tien  is  my  good  friend.  But  at  this  time 
he  was  drawing  near  the  gates  of  death,  and  his  mind  was  taken 


—69— 

up  with  but  one  thought,  so  on  he  went  repeating,  "The  idols 
cannot  save  me  (spitting  as  formerly),  the  goddess  of  mercy  can- 
not save  me  (more  spitting) ;  Jesus  can  save  me,  Jesus  can  save 
me."  In  his  last  moments  he  had  nothing  but  contempt  for  the 
false  gods  of  his  country ;  he  made  no  mention  of  the  great  sage 
of  China ;  he  claimed  no  merit  whereby  he  might  gain  a  good 
reward  for  his  life  of  imitation  of  Confucius.  No,  this  exem- 
plary Confucian  needed  saving  and  a  Savior,  and  the  only  words 
that  found  an  echo  in  his  heart  as  he  passed  away,  were,  "Jesus 
can  save  me,  Jesus  can  save  me." 


—70— 

PART  III 

How  God's  Word  Is  Now  Made  Manifest  Through  Preaching, 
Titus  1:3;  II  Timothy  1 :  10.     Or,  The  World- 
Field  Mission  of  Witnesses  for  Christ, 
John  6  :  29 


CHAPTER  iV 
The  Pro  and  Con  of  Heathen  Missions 

Years  ago,  the  indolent  shepherds  of  the  church  threw  all 
the  responsibility  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  upon  God. 
When  Carey  announced  his  purpose  to  go  to  India,  the  aged 
elders  with  solemn  mien  said,  "Young  man,  sit  down;  When 
God  wants  the  heathen  converted,  He  can  do  it  without  your 
help."  But  Carey  went  to  India,  and  others,  following  his 
example,  went  into  other  heathen  fields;  until  the  conscience  of 
lazy  Christendom  began  to  grow  uneasy.  Then  some  specious 
apologist  for  the  heathen  invented  the  famous  soothing  syrup 
formula — mission  heart's  ease, — that  the  heathen  are  better  off 
without  the  gospel ;  for  if  they  never  hear  it,  they  will  be  saved 
in  their  ignorance,  (God  is  not  so  unjust  as  to  punish  those  who 
didn't  know  any  better),  but  if  you  take  them  the  gospel,  you 
place  them  in  the  greatest  possible  danger,  for  if  they  reject  it, 
they  shall  be  condemned.  The  most  humane  thing  to  do,  there- 
fore, is  to  let  them  alone  in  their  safe  and  happy  innocence. 

But  still  the  consciences  of  the  more  earnest  Christians 
would  become  disquieted  and  burn  within  them,  and  many  were 
the  forms  and  varieties  of  this  soothing  syrup  compounded  to 
meet  and  quiet  these  new  cases.  But  all  to  no  avail.  There 
were  an  ever  increasing  number  of  sincere  and  devoted  disciples 
of  Christ  who  would  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  conscien- 
tiously obeying  their  Lord's  last  commission — "Go  ye  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  And  this 
they  persisted  in  doing  despite  all  opposition— thus  showing 
their  faith  by  their  works, — and  the  result  has  been  only  good 
(and  not  evil)  continually.    Then  the  opposition,  finding  their 


—71— 

remedies  useless  on  their  hands,  ostensibly  admitted  a  wrong 
diagnosis  of  the  case,  and  changed  from  allopathic  tohomepathic 
treatment  and  doses.  They  put  forth  in  their  bulletins  that  the 
heathen  were  not  really  so  bad  as  they  had  been  represented ;  in 
fact,  if  they  were  examined  without  prejudice  in  their  customs, 
literature  and  religion,  they  would  be  found  not  seriously  dis- 
eased, but  on  the  other  hand  to  be  possessed  of  sufficient  grains 
of  truth  to  enable  them  to  seek  the  Lord  and  find  him  in  their 
hour  of  need ;  that  they  have  been  living  in  the  full  blaze  of  the 
light  of  nature,  declaring  to  them  the  glory  of  God ;  that  men 
among  them  in  all  ages  had  been  inspired  by  God,  as  were  Moses 
and  Isaiah. 

Then  the  Christian  world,  even  some  of  those  who  were  the 
most  persistent  in  urging  missionaries  to  go  forth  into  heathen 
lands — seemed  to  yield  the  floor  wholly  to  their  opponents,  and 
to  seriously  doubt,  whether,  after  all,  the  heathen  were  really 
lost  in  the  state  they  are ;  and  to  justify  themselves  in  going  at 
all,  they,  in  desperation,  as  it  were,  threw  once  more  the  whole 
responsibility  back  upon  the  Lord.  They  tacitly  said,  "We  can- 
not account  for  the  Lord's  command,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  but  ours  not  to  reason 
why,  ours  not  to  make  reply,  ours  but  to  do  and  die."  So  that 
now  you  may  hear  some  of  our  most  enthusiastic  young  mission- 
aries even  apologetically  declaring,  "It  is  not  with  me  so  much  a 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  the  heathen  can  be  saved  without 
the  gospel,  but  the  question  is  'Can  I  be  saved  if  I  do  not  take  it 
to  them?'" 

Now  my  friends,  when  Peter  says,  Be  ready  always  to  give 
an  answer  to  every  man  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  you,  I 
take  it  that  he  does  not  mean  to  give  your  own  reason  but  God's 
reason  on  which  to  base  that  hope.  Now  look  at  that  reason 
again,  "Can  I  be  saved  if  I  do  not  take  it  to  them?"  and  see  if  it 
is  not  man's  poor  excuse  of  a  reason.  Does  not  that  young  man 
virtually  say,  "I  do  not  know  whether  or  not  I  will  be  of  any 
help  in  God's  plan  of  saving  the  heathen,  but  1  do  want  to  save 
myself.  Isn't  that  a  selfish  reason,  pure  and  simple?  Isn't  it 
almost  selfishness  personified?  He  don't  know  that  he  will  be  of 
any  help  to  others,  but  he  will  help  himself.  Now  the  motive 
prompting  the  earliest  Christian  missionaries  was  an  unselfish 


—72— 

love  for  others — a  willingness  to  sacrifice  their  own  lives,  if  need 
be,  for  the  salvation  of  others.  To  go  to  the  mission  field  with 
no  higher  or  clearer  motive  than  a  dogged  determination  to  save 
one's  self, — how  is  this  imitating  or  obeying  the  Christ  at  all? 
Christ  saved  others,— himself  he  gave  as  a  sacrifice  for  them. 

No  my  friends  once  more  let  us  go  back  to  Christ  and  learn  of 
him.  Let  us  thus  shake  oft"  this  drowsiness  caused  by  the 
opiates,  even  though  homepathically  administered  by  those 
who  would  apologists  for  the  heathen  be,  lay  aside  the 
weight  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us  and  run  anew  the  mission 
race  that  is  set  before  us.  We  have  forgotten,  for  the  moment, 
Jesus'  declared  purpose  in  coming  into  the  world — to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost.  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  He  says, 
so  send  I  you.  Ge  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  When  He  issues  the  command,  therefore,  it  is 
for  the  express  purpose  of  seeking  and  saving  the  lost,  whether 
Jew  or  Gentile,  civilized  or  heathen.  It  is  not  primarily  to  save 
his  already  made  disciples.  For  he  came  not  to  call  the  right- 
eous the  already  called — but  sinners  to  repentance. 

But  to  be  fair  and  impartial,  let  us  hear  the  reasons  given 
why  the  heathen  will  be  saved  as  they  are : 

1.  Because  of  want  of  opportunity  to  hear  and  believe.  All 
who  hear  the  gospel  and  reject  it,  of  course,  will  be  condemned, 
but  people  cannot  be  condemned  for  rejecting  that  which  they 
have  not  heard.  This  argument  is  put  forward  mostly  by  those 
who  believe  in  a  probation  after  death,  as  the  Catholics  with 
their  purgatory,  or  the  soul  sleepers  with  tlieir  intermediate 
state.  They  do  not  say  the  heathen  are  all  right  as  they  now 
are,  but  that  they  will  be  given  another  chance ;  or  at  least  an 
equal  chance,  with  those  who  hear  the  gospel  on  earth.  They 
quote  such  passages  as,  "Today  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  para- 
dise, (Luke  23:43) :  and  "He  went  and  preached  to  the  spirits  in 
prison,  (I  Peter  3:19). 

It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  man  whom  Jesus 
promised  would  be  with  him  that  day  in  paradise  did  not  need  a 
second  probation ;  and,  as  to  the  second  citation.  Prof.  McGarvey 
thus  explains  the  passage:  Christ  in  the  Spirit  and  previous  to 
his  appearance  in  the  flesh,  strove  with  the  antediluvians  against 
their  increasing  wickedness.    Peter  styles  Noah  (2  Pet.  2:5)    a 


—73— 

preacher  of  righteousness;  and  the  method  by  which  God's 
Spirit  has  always  striven  against  sin  is  through  the  voice  of 
living  preachers  of  righteousness.  All  the  Christian  Jews  were 
familiar  with  the  pre-existence  of  Christ,  as  taught  by  Paul, 
John  and  Christ  himself,  and  they  knew  that  whatever  God  did 
by  his  spirit,  it  was  proper  to  say  that  Christ  did.  Historical 
criticism  rightly  understood  and  applied,  never  disregards  the 
historical  allusions  made  by  a  writer,  in  seeking  to  understand 
what  he  says.  Christ  in  the  Spirit  preached  to  that  generation 
(of  Noah)  and  they  were  spirits  in  the  prison  at  the  time  of 
Peter's  writing.  I  myself  have  preached  to  people  long  since 
dead.  Peter  does  not  say  when  or  where  this  preaching  was 
done,  i.  e.,  whether  done  in  the  prison  or  before  the  imprison- 
ment. The  very  mention  of  the  disobedience  in  the  days  of 
Noah  could  not  fail  to  remind  of  both  time  and  place.  It  was 
then  that  God  said,  "My  Spirit  shall  not  always  strive  with 
man." 

But  as  to  a  general  statement  sufficient  to  explain  the  finali- 
ty of  earthly  opportunity,  we  are  told  in  2  Cor,  5:10  that  we 
must  all  appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one 
may  receive  the  things  done  in  the  body,  according  to  that  he 
hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad,— see  also  Rom.  14:12.  We 
are  to  be  judged  according  to  men  in  the  flesh,  says  I  Pet.  4:6. 

2.  They  already  have  enough  gospel  in  their  religions  to 
save  those  who  sincerely  practice  or  live  it.  It  matters  not, 
therefore,  whether  they  ever  hear  of  the  historical  Christ.  Ac- 
cording to  Max  Muller,  "There  is  hardly  one  religion  that  does 
not  contain  truth  sufficient  to  enable  those  who  seek  the  Lord  to 
find  him  in  their  hour  of  need. 

But,  again  falling  back  upon  the  word  of  God,  let  us  ask, 
How  can  they  seek  Him  of  whom  they  do  not  know?  Or,  how 
can  they  believe  in  Him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard? 

There  is  a  popular  delusion  abroad  in  Christian  lands  that 
the  heathen  are  standing  with  outstretched  arms  and  open 
mouth  to  receive  the  gospel— a  companion  picture,  as  it  were,  to 
that  of  young  birds  in  the  nest  when  they  see  the  mother  bird 
returning  with  a  worm.  On  my  recent  trip  home  from  China,  I 
heard  how  this  delusion  probably  originated.  Dr.  Corbett,  of 
Chef 00,  related  the  story  of  an  early  missionary  (more  than  50 


—74— 

years  ago),  a  very  zealous  young  man,  but  wholly  inexperienced 
in  the  ways  of  heathen  people ;  who  after  a  brief  study  of  the 
Chinese  language,  took  some  gospel  tracts  and  started  out  to 
sow  the  good  seed.  He  did  not  sell  the  tracts — he  was  too  good- 
hearted  to  let  money  bar  a  single  soul  from  receiving  the  pre- 
cious word.  He  gave  them  away,  and  the  natives,  filled  with 
wonder  and  curiosity  at  sight  of  the  strange  foreigner,  and  his  still 
stranger  manner  of  distribution — without  money  and  without 
price — made  a  run,  as  it  were,  on  his  bank  of  such  unlimited 
credit,  with  the  result  that  the  young  man  fled  for  a  tree,  up 
which  he  climbed  and  from  whose  overhanging  boughs  he  let 
fall  his  tracts,  like  leaves,  into  the  upstretched  hands  of  the 
hungry  crowd  below,  who  seemed  to  fairly  jump  to  snatch  every 
tract  in  the  air  before  it  had  time  to  reach  the  ground.  The  in- 
experienced young  missionary  wrote  at  once  to  his  home  board, 
the  wonderful  truth  that  the  heathen  Chinese  were  so  hunger- 
ing for  the  word  of  God  that  they  were  standing  with  uplifted 
hands  ready  to  receive  whatever  the  missionary  had  printed  and 
time  to  give  them.  This  wonderful  experience  was  faithfully 
reproduced  on  the  pages  of  many  religious  papers  and  magazines, 
and  scatrered  broadcast  over  the  country.  That  missionay  grew 
older  and  wiser,  and  never  after  committed  the  same  folly,  for 
it  made  him  both  sad  and  serious  when  he  learned  the  truth 
that  not  one  of  that  motley  crowd  that  day  knew,  or  even  sus- 
pected, that  he  was  giving  them  the  word  of  God, — but  all  were 
wonderingly  enjoying  the  curious  antics  of  the,  to  them,  strange 
foreign  devil.  The  good  man's  body  now  lies  mouldering  in  the 
grave,  but  his  phantom  story  still  goes  marcliing  on. 

But  there  is  a  way —  a  scriptural  way — in  which  the  heathen, 
the  same  as  others— receive  the  word  of  truth.  There,  as  here, 
the  seed  is  first  sown  in  faith,  watered  with  tears,  cultivated 
with  patience ;  then  appears  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  and  then 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  Brethren,  be  not  tossed  to  and  fro,  and 
carried  about  by  every  wind  that  blows.  The  work  of  sowing 
the  good  seed  in  heathen  lands  is  going  grandly  on.  It  is  falling, 
as  in  the  parable,  on  all  kinds  of  soil ;  but  in  due  time,  God's 
word  for  it,  that  which  falls  into  the  good  ground  will  bring 
forth  some  thirty,  some  sixty,  and  some  an  hundred  fold.  There 
are,  at  present  125,000  professing  Christians. 


—75— 

3.  God  is  teaching  them  through  nature.  If  they  live  up  to 
this  light,  God  requires  no  more.  Universal  inspiration  teaches 
that  there  have  been  men  in  all  ages  and  of  all  races  especially 
endowed  with  a  spiritual  vision,  so  that  they  have  discovered 
the  truth. 

The  best  answer  to  this  kind  of  soft  philosophy  is  to  say 
that  it  isn't  so,  and  to  challenge  the  man  who  aflrms  it  to  pro- 
duce his  proof.  Let  him  bring  forth  one  actual  case  supporting 
his  affirmation,  and  it  will  be  time  for  us  to  examine  into  the 
matter.  Dr.  Griffith  John,  who  has  been  50  years  a  missionary 
in  China,  and  Dr.  Corbett,  42  years  each  say  that  he  has  never 
yet  met  an  untaught  native,  who  knew  God.  I  myself  have 
never  met  any  of  these  so-called  "taught-by-God- through-na- 
ture" men,  nor  have  I  been  able,  by  careful  enquiry,  to  find  any 
one  who  had  met  such  an  one.  No,  my  friends,  there  are  not 
two  plans  of  salvation,  but  just  the  one,  the  same  that  we  have 
heard  from  the  beginning— "The  gospel  is  the  power  of  God  un- 
to salvation  to  every  one  that  beleveth ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also 
to  the  Greeks, — Rom.  1:16.  And  how  shall  they  believe  on  him 
of  whom  they  have  not  heard? 

Dr.  Corbett  told  me  of  two  cases  which  illustrate  this.  I 
will  give  them  in  his  own  words: 

"Five  or  six  years  ago,  we  received  an  old  man,  now  in  his 
89th  year,  into  the  church.  He  said  that  about  30  years  previ- 
ous to  that  time,  a  Christian  tract  that  some  one  had  received 
at  a  market  town  from  one  of  the  preachers,  had  fallen  into  his 
hands.  The  reading  of  that  tract  convinced  him  of  the  folly  of 
idolatry  so  that  from  that  day  on  he  never  went  to  the  temple 
nor  took  part  in  idolatrous  ceremonies.  It  also  convinced  him 
that  this  doctrine  was  a  good  thing.  And  if  he  heard  anybody 
speak  disparagingly  of  it,  he  would  say,  Now  don't  do  that.  I 
don't  understand  it  fully,  but  I  know  it  is  good,  and  it  would  be 
well  for  us  if  we  did  thoroughly  understand  it.  During  all  those 
30  years,  he  never  met  any  one  who  could  teach  him  more.  Fin- 
ally his  son-in-law  who  lived  ten  miles  away,  heard  the  truth, 
became  a  Christian,  and  went  at  once  to  see  his  old  father-in-law 
and  tell  him  the  good  news.  The  old  man  began  at  once  to 
pray.  He  was  blind  by  this  time,  but  asked  to  have  the  Bible 
read  to  him,  and  his  heart  was  able  to  accept  the  truth.    Since 


—76— 

then,  his  wife,  his  son  and  two  of  his  grand-children  have  be- 
come Christians,  and  they  form  the  center  of  a  little  group  away 
out  there  in  the  country  far  from  any  church." 

The  other  case  was  as  follows:  Seven  or  eight  years  ago,  a 
man  applied  for  baptism.  I  asked  him  if  he  could  pray.  Yes, 
he  said,  he  thought  he  could.  He  had  been  praying  for  many 
years.  I  asked  him  how  he  prayed.  He  then  gave  the  Lord's 
prayer  but  in  a  different  version  from  any  I  had  known.  Con- 
tinuing his  examination,  I  asked  him  where  he  had  learned  that 
prayer.  He  said  his  uncle  40  years  before  got  a  book  at  the  port 
of  Kinchow  in  Shantung  province  which  had  come  on  a  junk  from 
Shanghai.  Later  this  copy  fell  into  his  hands  and  he  read  it 
over  and  over  again.  He  was  a  native  doctor  and  he  just  longed 
for  the  power  that  Jesus  had  to  heal  all  manner  of  sickness  and 
diseases,  but  it  never  dawned  upon  him  that  Jesus  was  divine. 
He  was  one  of  those  vegetarians  and  seekers  after  truth,  and 
coming  across  the  Lord's  prayer,  he  felt  that  this  was  a  more 
appropriate  prayer  than  any  he  had  ever  learned,  so  he  memor- 
ized and  prayed  it  several  times  a  day  for  a  number  of  years. 
Finally,  one  of  our  Christians  visited  his  village  and  met  him. 
They  began  talking  about  the  Christian  religion,  and  he  preached 
Jesus  unto  him,  telling  of  His  power  to  work  miracles.  Why,  he 
said,  I  had  been  reading  all  about  that  man,  but  I  didn't  know 
he  was  a  Savior  nor  why  he  died.  The  more  they  talked,  the 
more  anxious  he  was  to  know  the  true  explanation  of  what  he 
had  been  groping  over  in  darkness.  The  Lord  opened  his  heart  to 
see  the  truth,  and  he  became  a  faithful,  devout  Christian.  I 
saw  him  a  few  weeks  ago.  His  entire  family  has  come  into  the 
church.  His  neighbors  and  all  say  that  he  is  a  good  man,  one 
whom  you  can  trust, — who  won't  deceive  you.  He  is  now  an 
elder  in  one  of  our  country  churches." 

4.  "All  men  after  all  are  worshipping  the  one  God.  Their 
ideas  of  that  God,  and  their  names  for  Him,  may  be  different, 
but  still  they  are  trying  to  reverence  the  best  tliey  know.  They 
may  worship  under  heathen  names,  and  yet  be  true  worshippers 
of  God."  This  is  quoted  from  an  editorial  in  the  H.  John's  Col- 
lege Echo  (Shanghai,  China)  written  by  President  F.  L.  Hawks 
Pott,  who  is  supported  by  missionary  money  from  America. 

In  a  private  letter,  I  asked  President  Pott  if  he  meant  that 


—77— 

when  the  Hindoo  mother  threw  her  child  to  the  crocodile  of  the 
Gangese  river,  she  was  worshippiug  the  "one  God"  that  he  was, 
but  he  made  no  direct  answer,  simply  enclosing  his  editorial 
with  the  remark  that  he  didn't  see  anything  alarming  in  what 
he  had  written.  If  all  men  after  all  are  worshipping  the  one 
God,  no  matter  under  what  names,  what  about  the  priests  of 
Baal,  whom  Elijah  proved  false?  Methinks  it  would  not  take 
Elijah  long  to  prove  F.  L.  Hawks  Pott  a  false  prophet.  And 
how  about  the  gods  of  the  Amorites  and  Hittites  and  Perizzites 
and  Canaanites  and  Hivites  and  Jebusites  which  God  forbade 
the  Israelites  worshipping, — (Ex.  23:2.3,  24.)  And  what  did 
Joshua  mean  when  he  said  (24:15),  "And  if  it  seem  evil  unto  you 
to  serve  the  Lord ;  choose  you  this  day  whom  you  will  serve ; 
whether  the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  which  were  on  the 
other  side  of  the  flood,  or  the  gods  of  the  Amorites  in  whose  land 
ye  dwell :  but  as  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 

5.  Because  of  their  ignorance.  The  times  of  this  ignorance 
God  overlooked  (Acts  17:30).  Shall  not  the  judge  of  all  the  earth 
do  right?    (Gen.  18:25). 

Yes,  this  is  just  what  scripture  says  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
will  do.  He  will  do  right,  for  He  hath  appointed  a  day  in  which 
he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteousness  (Acts  17:31),  righteous- 
ly,— rightly, — right.  And  how?  According  to  the  gospel  of  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ  (Kom.  2:16).  Jesus  says  he  came  not  to  call  the 
righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance  (Luke  5:32).  And  not  to 
leave  his  disciples  in  doubt  as  to  whom  he  meant  by  "sinners," 
he  says:  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved, 
he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  condemned  (Mk.  16:16.) 

The  times  of  this  ignorance  God  overlooked,  but  now  com- 
mandeth  men  everywhere  to  repent  (Acts  17:30).  In  other 
words,  God  does  not  hold  the  sins  of  past  generations  against 
those  of  the  present,  but  commands  the  present  generation  to 
repent  of  their  sins  and  have  faith  in  his  Son  for  salvation.  Yes, 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do  right.  He  is  long-suffering, 
merciful,  not  willing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance  (II  Pet.  3:9).  They  themselves  have  strayed 
away  from  God  and  light  and  become  lost  in  the  power  of  Satan 
and  the  darkness  of  this  world.    God  is  long-suffering — in  times 


—78— 

past,  he  suffered  all  nations  to  walk  in  their  own  ways  (Acts 
14:16),  nevertheless  he  left  not  himself  without  witness.  But 
men  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie  and  worshipped  and 
served  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator.  Wherefore  God 
gave  them  up  to  uncleanness  through  the  lusts  of  their  own 
hearts.  And  even  as  they  did  not  like  to  acknowledge  God,  God 
gave  them  over  to  a  mind  void  of  judgment.  So  that  they  are 
without  excuse,  (Rom.  1:24;  5:8,20.)  But  God,  rich  in  mercy 
(Eph.  2:4)  had  planned  a  way  of  salvation  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world.  This  is  repentance  toward  God  and  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  (Acts  20:26).  Not  by  works  of  righteousness 
which  we  have  done,  but  by  his  mercy  he  saved  us  (Titus  3:5). 
It  is  the  gift  of  God  (Eph.  2:8).  Oh,  let  us  praise  the  Lord  for 
his  wonderful  goodness  to  the  children  of  men.    (Ps. ) 

No,  my  friends,  it  is  not  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  who  will 
not  do  right.  God  is  good ;  God  is  love,  and  with  Him  is  no 
variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning  (James).  It  is  man  who 
will  not  do  right.  The  hymnist  truly  sings  of  the  place  where 
prospect  pleases  and  only  man  is  vile.  There  are  men,  who 
know  the  truth,  and  yet  deliberately  turn  it  into  a  lie.  They 
know  that  the  Word  says— God  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world 
unto  himself,  and  they  teach  that  the  heathen  world  do  not  need 
to  be  reconciled  because  of  their  ignorance.  They  know  that 
God's  Son  has  commanded  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel,  and  yet  they  not  only  will  not  go  themselves  but 
keep  others  from  going  by  their  "already-saved-in-their-ignor- 
ance"  falsity. 

Such  willful  disobedience  on  their  part  and  such  pernicious 
teaching  given  to  others  can  be  called  by  no  other  term  than 
high  treason  to  our  Great  Commander.  Oh,  that  these  words 
might  burn  into  the  souls  and  consciences  of  all  such  I  God  will 
do  right ;  but  should  you,  with  such  treason  in  your  heart  and 
such  perjury  on  your  lips,  compass  sea  and  land  and  make  one 
proselyte  to  your  hypocritical  faith,  he  would  be  two-fold  more 
the  child  of  hell  than  yourselves. 

Now  we  have  arrived  at  the  point  where  we  may  see  the 
utmost  necessity  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  heathen. 
The  greatest  reason  in  the  world  for  so  doing  is  because  they  are 


—79— 

lost.    To  show  this,  let  scripture  be  submitted  to  your  candid 
scrutiny. 

1.  All  men  have  sinned,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God.  Rom.  3:23.  As  many  as  have 
sinned  in  the  law  shall  be  judged  by  the  law.— Rom.  2:12.  This 
"all  men"  includes  the  heathen.  Repentance  toward  God  and 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  what  Paul  testified  to  both 
Jews  and  Greeks. — Acts  20:21. 

2.  There  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven  among 
men  whereby  we  must  be  saved. — Acts  4:12.  Those  who  call  on 
the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved.  But  how  shall  they  call  on 
Him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard?  And  how  shall  they  hear 
without  a  preacher? — Rom.  10:13, 14.  God  speaks  to  the  heath- 
en, as  to  all  others  who  are  lost,  through  his  own  appointed 
messengers. 

3.  God  sends  His  Holy  Spirit  only  to  those  who  believe  in 
His  Son.  People  of  the  world,  as  the  heathen,  cannot  receive 
the  Holy  Spirit,  because  they  see  Him  not,  neither  know  Him. — 
John  14:17.  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they  are  spiritually 
discerned. — I  Cor.  2:14.  He  has  no  part  nor  lot  in  them.  He 
is  as  nature  made  him — of  the  flesh.  That  which  is  born  of  flesh 
is  flesh,  and  doth  mind  the  things  of  the  flesh.  This  is  the 
carnal  mind,  which  is  enmity  against  God.  These  natural  or 
worldly  men  receive  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  no  reve- 
lation of  His  will  comes  direct  to  them.  They  are  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sin.  They  have  not  been  born  of  the  Spirit.  Nicode- 
mus  could  not  understand,  because  he  had  not  yet  been  born 
again.  He  could  not  even  understand  earthly  things,  how  then 
could  he  understand  the  heavenly?  Paul  says  to  Christians, 
But  we  have  the  mind  of  Christ.  That  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit 
is  spirit  and  doth  mind  the  things  of  the  Spirit.  Now  we  have 
received  the  Spirit  of  God,  that  we  might  know  the  things  which 
are  freely  given  us  of  God. — I  Cor.  2:12. 

Here,  then,  are  two  great  divisions  of  men — those  of  the 
world  and  those  of  the  Spirit.  The  world  receiveth  not — the 
natural  man  receiveth  not— they  are  of  the  earth,  earthy.    Je- 


—80— 

sus'  disciples  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  Jesus  is  not  of  the 
world.— John  17:14.  Therefore  the  world  hateth  them. — John 
15:19.  Jesus  does  not  mean  that  his  disciples  cannot  engage  in 
the  business  concerns  of  this  world,  but  only  to  regard  them  as 
incidental  to  the  great  purpose  of  life — to  prepare  oneself  and 
others  for  life  eternal.  Thus  rich  men,  instead  of  hoarding  their 
fortunes  as  formerly,  now  spend  them  during  their  lifetime — in 
most  cases  for  worthier  objects  than  they  themselves  teach  by 
example.  They  found  libraries,  build  asylums  and  endow  theo- 
logical colleges  and  universities — all  because  of  the  Christian  in- 
fluence exerted  by  the  country  and  people  in  and  among  which 
they  dwell.  They  begin  to  realize  as  never  before  that  riches 
are  ephemeral  and  soon  fly  away,  and  that  men  ought  to  prepare 
for  the  higher  and  weightier  interests  of  the  soul. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  if  Christians  do  not  fulfill  their 
God-given  duty,  they  are  choking  the  only  channel  by  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  gains  admittance  into  the  hearts  of  the  heathen 
world.  They  become  hinderers  and  not  helpers.  They  have  not 
yet  risen  to  the  highest  destiny  to  which  God  calls  them  in  his 
providence  and  mercy.  We  often  hear  the  motto:  Go  or  send. 
There  is  no  such  scripture.  God's  command  and  example,  pre- 
cept and  practice,  is  Go  and  send.  He  first  went  to  man  and  then 
sent  his  Son.  Jesus  himself  first  came  to  earth,  and  then  sent 
forth  his  disciples.  And  the  Apostles  in  every  case  first  went 
themselves  and  then  sent  forth  others.  And  we  do  well  to  keep 
in  the  apostolic  line.  Paul  went  to  Corinth  and  afterward  sent 
Timothy.  Every  really  great  general  always  goes  with  his  army 
to  the  place  of  campaign  and  then  sends  them  forth  to  victory. 
It  is  the  ''go"  of  the  great  power  house  that  sends  the  electricity 
to  the  motor  car ;  and  the  moment  the  power  house  ceases  to  go, 
that  moment  it  ceases  to  send.  So  it  is  in  Christian  mission  ac- 
tivity—Go and  send,  not  "go  or  send."  We  want  a  conjunctive, 
not  a  disjunctive  term.  We  want  the  old-reliable  scriptural  self- 
coupler  on  our  mission  trains  that  will  save  men's  lives,  and  not 
the  man-made  rationalistic,  higher-critical  non-coupler  that  en- 
dangers men's  lives  at  both  ends  of  the  line.  Christ  says,  Go 
and  preach.  One  cannot  go  everywhere  but  he  can  go  some- 
where. 


—81- 


If  you  cannot  cross  the  ocean, 

And  the  heathen  lands  explore, 
You  can  find  the  heathen  nearer. 

You  can  help  them  at  your  door. 
If  you  cannot  speak  like  angels, 

If  you  cannot  preach  like  Paul, 
You  can  tell  the  love  of  Jesus, 

You  can  say  He  died  for  all. 

If  you  cannot  give  your  thousands, 

You  can  give  your  widow's  mite ; 
And  the  least  you  do  for  Jesus, 

Wili  be  precious  in  His  sight. 
With  your  prayers  and  with  your  bounties 

You  can  do  what  heaven  demands ; 
You  can  be  like  faithful  Aaron 

Holding  up  the  prophet's  hands. 

If  among  the  older  people, 

You  may  not  be  apt  to  teach ; 
"Feed  my  lambs"  said  Christ  our  Shepherd, 

"Place  the  food  within  their  reach." 
And  it  may  be  that  the  children 

You  have  led  with  trembling  hand, 
Will  be  found  among  your  jewels 

When  you  reach  the  better  land. 

Hark  I  the  voice  of  Jesus  crying,— 

Who  will  go  and  work  today? 
Fields  are  white  and  harvest  waiting: 

Who  will  bear  the  sheaves  away? 
Loud  and  strong  the  Master  calleth 

Rich  reward  he  offers  thee ; 
Who  will  answer,  gladly  saying: 

"Here  am  I,  send  me,  send  me." 

Let  none  hear  you  idly  saying, 

There  is  nothing  I  can  do, 
While  the  souls  of  men  are  dying. 

And  the  Master  calls  for  you. 
Take  the  task  he  gives  you  gladly ; 

Let  his  work  your  pleasure  be. 
Answer  quickly  when  he  calleth, 

Here  am  I,  send  me,  send  mie." 


—82— 

And  now  to  put  into  action  what  we  have  expressed  in  words 
and  what  we  doubt  is  the  earnest  desire  of  our  hearts,  let  us 
carefully  read  and  prayerfully  sign 

The  Soul  Seeker^s  Pledge. 

I  hereby  enroll  myself  as  one  who  believes  that  every  Chris- 
tian should  stir  up  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  within  him,  to  the 
end  that  others  may  receive  the  promise  of  Acts  2:38,  39. 

Trusting-  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  strength  and  guidance, 
I  promise  him  that  I  will  go,  and  so  far  as  I  can,  help  to  send 
others,  into  the  sin-lost  of  this  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
them. 

(Signed) 


X  » 


*     FES   4  1910 

''.ft>t         r— ~*  T  -•  ♦  i-i»" — ■% 

The  tjreatest  Work  in  the  World : 


OR 


The  Mission  of  Christ's  Disciples 


BY       .// 

CHARLES  B.  TITUS, 

FOR   SEVEN    YEARS   A    MISSIONARY   IN    CHINA 

Appointed  by  the  Foreign  Christian  Missionary 
Society 


JESUS   SAYS: 

The  Son  of  man  is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.— Luke  19:10. 

As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  so  send  I  you. — ^John  20:21. 

The  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  I  will  send  unto  you 
from  the  Father.     He  will  guide  you. — ^John  15:26. 

Go  ye  therefore  and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations. — Matt. 
28:19. 

Father,  I  pray  also  for  them  which  shall  believe  on  me  through 
their  word,  that  they  all  may  be  one  in  us,  that  the  world  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me. — John  17:  20,  21. 


To  My  Faithful  and  Devoted 

Wife 

This  Volume  Is  Affectionately  Dedicated 


INTRODUCTION. 


OHLlf^'R.  C.  B.  Titus  has  written  a  little  work  entitled, 
<^^^  "The  Greatest  Work  in  the  World,  or  the  Mis- 
sion of  Christ's  Disciples."  In  this  liule  book 
he  answers  the  arguments  put  forth  by  the  advocates  of 
what  is  called  Natural  Theology.  Having  had  large 
experience  in  heathen  lands,  where  systems  of  Natural 
Theology  have  dominated  for  centuries,  he  is  able  to 
speak  out  of  the  abundance  of  his  own  observation.  He 
speaks  clearly  and  forcibly,  and  the  little  book  is  calculat- 
ed to  do  much  good.  The  authority  of  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures is  magnified,  and  the  elevating  tendency  of  revealed 
religion  is  forcibly  set  forth.  We  commend  this  little 
book,  both  as  to  its  purpose  and  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  executed.    It  will  amply  repay  careful  reading. 

Very  respectfully, 

E.  V.  ZOLLARS, 

President  Texas  Christian  University, 

North  Waco,  Texas,  May  26th,  1906. 


PART  I. 

How  God  Has  Spoken  to  Man ;  or,  How,  Through  Whom, 
and  to  Whom  God's  Word  was  Given. 


INTRODUCTION. 

J.  W.  McGarvey,  in  his  introduction  to  "  Evidences 
of  (  hristianity,"  says :  "  Many  persons,  in  studying  the 
claims  of  Christianity,  take  up  the  objections  that  are 
urged  against  it  before  they  learn  what  it  is,  or  examine 
the  evidence  in  its  favor.  .  .  .  This  is  a  reversal  of  the 
order  established  in  all  courts  of  justice,  in  all  well- 
conducted  discussions,  in  all  scientific  investigations." 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  (1)  the  integrity  of  the 
New  Testament  books,  (2)  their  genuineness,  (3)  their 
authenticity,  and  (4)  the  inspiration  of  their  writers. 
The  "evidences"  given  have  never  been  successfully 
refuted. 

Natural  Theology  claims  to  interpret  the  voice  of 
God  as  He  speaks  through  nature.*  But  since  God  has 
spoken  directly — in  divers  manners  in  time  past  unto 
the  fathers  by  the  prophets,  and  in  these  last  days  unto 
us  by  His  8on — let  us  first  thoroughly  examine  this 
direct  message.  If  we  find  therein  promise  that  Scrip- 
ture or  Gospel  came  in  time  past  in  any  other  way  than 
through  holy  men  of  God  speaking  as  they  were  moved 
b}^  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  in  these  last  days  by  the  Son  of 
God,  we  can  then  profitably  proceed  to  the  investigation 
of  such  promise. 

*  "Natural  Theology  is  the  systematic  arrangement  of  that 
knowledge  as  to  God  and  man  and  their  mutual  relations  which  can 
be  gained  from  the  study  of  nature  to  the  exclusion  of  revelation," — 
Tlie  New  International  Encyclopedia,  p.  283. 


**  Upbearinj:,  a^  the  ark  of  old, 
The  Bible  in  our  van, 
We  go  to  test  ihe  truth  of  Cod 

Against  the  fraud  of  man." — Whittier. 

We  begin  with  admitted  facts.  About  one-third 
of  the  human  race  to-day  would  testify  in  open  court 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  He  "lived 
in  the  flesh  "  some  nineteen  hundred  years  ago.  Most 
of  the  other  two-thirds  are  too  innocent  of  historical 
knowledge  to  give  evidence  at  all.  The  remainder  are 
avowed  agnostics,  infidels  or  atheists. 

Even  these  latter  admit  Jesus  to  be  historical,  e.g.. 

The  polished  infidel  writer,  Ernest  Kenan,  has 
written  a  "  Life  of  Jesus." 

Colonel  Robert  Ingersoll,  although  disbelieving  in 
the  God  of  the  Bible,  says  that  Jesus  was  a  "  model 
man." 

John  Stuart  Mill,  that  elegant  but  skeptical  philo- 
sopher, says:  "It  is  of  no  use  to  say  that  Christ,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  Gospel,  is  not  historical." 

Sir  Edward  Gibbon,  the  most  accomplished  and  the 
most  skeptical  historian,  says:  "The  authentic  histories 
of  the  actions  of  Christ  were  composed  in  the  Greek 
language" — Decline  and  Fall  of  the  lloman  Empire, 
p.  574. 

Dr.  Isaac  M.  Wise,  a  learned  Jewish  Rabbi,  says 
that  "the  Talmud  often  mentions  the  name  of  Jesus  .  .  . 
Had  those  rabbis  considered  Jesus  ;in  ignoramus,  or  a 
mere  impostor,  they  must  have  said  so  somewhere,  but 
they  did  not" — Origin  of  Christianity,  p.  8. 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  the  author  of  "  Ten  Great 
Religions,"  says:  "Wherever  the  apostles  of  Christ 
went,  they  found  that  Judaism  had  prepared  the  way" — 
p.  447. 

But  the  evidence  these  men  have  of  a  person  called 
Jesus   is    the   common    heritage   of  the    world.     It  was 


given  by  those  who  oompanied  with  Jesus  when  He  dwelt 
among  men, — by  eye-witnesses. 

Now  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness  is  taken  by 
judge  and  jury  as  the  best  evidence.  Therefore  in  tlie 
language  of  Simon  Greenleaf,  the  leading  authority  on 
legal  evidence,  "it  is  time  that  the  Four  Evangelists 
should  be  admitted  in  corroboration  of  each  other,  as 
readily  as  Josephus  and  Tacitus,  or  Polyhius  and  Livy  " 

Matthew  testifies  that  "  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem 
of  Judea  in  the  days  of  Herod  the  king,"  and  that  a  voice 
came  from  heaven  saying.   '  This  is  my  beloved  Son." 

Mark  testifies  that  "Jesus  came  from  Nazareth  of 
Galilee,"  and  Mark  afterwards  wrote  "  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God." 

Luke  says  that  "Jesus  increased  in  wisdom  and 
stature  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man,"  and  records 
that  the  angel  said  unto  Mary:  'The  Holy  Spirit  shall 
come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  highest  shall  over- 
shadow thee  ;  therefore  also  that  hol}^  thing  which  shall 
be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God." 

John  writes  of  "Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of 
Joseph,"  and  declares  that  "  these  things  are  written  that 
ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God;  and  that  believing  ye  might  have  life  through  His 
name." 

Jesus  Himself,  before  the  scribes  and  elders  and 
Caiaphas  the  high  priest,  claimed  to  be  the  C/hrist,  the 
Son  of  God.  After  His  resurrection  and  before  His 
ascension,  He  said  to  His  disciples  :  "Ye  shall  be  wit- 
nesses of  me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth." 

These  witnesses  all  testified  "  that  Christ  died  for  our 
sins;  that  He  was  buried,  and  that  He  rose  again  the 
third  day,  according  to  the  Scriptures;"  and  Paul,  a  con- 
temporary, also  avers  "  that  Jesus,  after  His  resurrection, 
was  seen  of  Cephas,  then  of  the  twelve;  after  that,  He 


was  seen  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once,  of  whom 
the  greater  j^arb  reiiiain  unto  this  present,  but  some  are 
fallen  asleep      And  last  of  all  He  was  seen  of  me  also." 

If.  therefore,  Jesus  is  not  the  Son  of  God,  then  are 
these  witnesses  false,  and  we  are  still  in  darkness  and 
doubt  and  know  not  that  the  man  Jesus  ever  lived. 
But  the  witnesses  are  believed  when  they  testify  that 
the  man  Jesus  lived  ;  hence  it  follows,  as  the  da\'  the 
night,  that  their  whole  testimony  must  be  received,  and 
that  "God  hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by 
His  Son."* 

The  recorded  words  of  Jesus,  then,  are  true.  '*Kever 
man  spake  like  this  man"  He  says:  "The  Father  hath 
committed  all  judgment  unto  the  Son:  that  all  men 
should  honor  the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father. 
All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  earth.  The 
Son  can  do  nothing  of  Himself,  but  what  He  seeth  the 
Father  do.  As  the  Father  hath  taught  me,  I  speak 
these  things." 

*  Testimony  from  the  lips  of  credible  witnesses  is  the  best  evidence 
that  Jesus  lived  on  earth.  This  established,  Jesus'  own  words  and 
works,  related  by  ear  and  eye  witnesses,  prove  Him  to  be  the  Son  of 
God,  and  therefore  the  authority  on  Scripture  intei  pretatiou.  This 
being  so,  Jesus'  citations  and  statements  not  only  make  tlie  Old  Testa, 
ment  genuine  and  authentic  history,  but  also  a  prophetical  testimony 
of  Himself. 

It  is  pitiable,  at  times,  to  see  men,  otherwise  zealous  for  Chris- 
tianity, agree  with  their  adversary  to  ignore  the  Bible,  and  ihen 
attempt  to  prove  the  existence  of  God  (and  this  logically  includes  the 
Son  of  God)  from  nature,  design,  etc.  All  such  attempts  are  puerile, 
futile.  Paley,  for  instance,  could  never  reach  the  absolute  proof, 
even  though  he  himself  started  with  all  the  knowledge  of  revelation, 
because  he  cast  aside  this  direct  testimony,  than  wliich  no  better  ia 
needed  or  can  be  adduced.  Other  conclusive  evidence  of  the  first 
fact  we  have  none.  But  every  one  possessing  tl)is  knowledge,  can 
boldly  testify,  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  and  the  firma- 
ment showeth  his  handiwork."  The  finest  acumen  of  the  best  of 
human  inellects,  refusing  the  testimonial  aid  of  God's  own  chosen 
witnesses,  will  and  must  utterly  fail  to  convince  doubters  and 
skeptics.  "For  if  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will 
they  be  persuaded  if  one  rose  from  the  dead."— Luke  xvi.  31. 


Jesus  knew  all  that  was  written  in  the  law  of  Moses, 
and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms  (Luke  xxiv.  44). 
To  the  Pharisees,  tempting  Him,  He  answered,  "  Have  ye 
not  read  that  he  which  made  them  at  the  beginning, 
made  them  male  and  female  and  said  :  '  For  this  cause 
shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother  and  shall  cleav.  to  his 
wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh.'  "  i  his  passage  is 
found  in  the  very  tirst  chapter  of  the  first  book  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures ;  and  thus  did  the  Son  of  God  set  the 
seal  of  historicity  upon  that  most  ancient  record  known 
to  man. 

The  law  was  given  through  Moses,  but  grace  and 
truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  then  examine  this 
direct  message  to  find  out  just  how-: — 


—  6  -. 

Qod  made  Himself  known  unto  Men. 
CHAPTER  I. 

God  breathed  into  man,  at  his  creation,  the  breath 
of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul.  And  the  Lord 
God  made  a  helpmeet  for  him  ;  and  gave  commandment 
unto  them,  and  they  returned  answer. 

Such  is  the  simple  record  of  the  origin  of  man's 
knowledge  of  God.  God  had  so  made  man  that  he  could 
hear,  understand  and  respond  intelligently.  God  holding 
converse  wiih  man  is  not  the  greater  wonder;  the 
creation  of  such  a  being  is  a  far  transcendent  miracle. 
Given  the  creatiire  man,  and  the  fact  that  his  Creator 
communicated  knowledge  to  him  bei-omes  infinitely  easy 
of  comprehension.  The  use  of  the  telephone  is  a  com- 
monplace compared  to  the  invention  itself. 

We  stand  on  the  threshold  of  man's  creation  and 
wonder  in  vain  as  to  how  it  all  came  about  ;  we  step 
within  and  puzzle  over  the  process  by  which  the  Creator 
comniimicated  with  the  created.  Neither  has  He  clearly 
declared  unto  us.  "The  secret  things  belong  unto  God; 
but  those  things  which  are  revealed,  belong  unto  us  and 
to  our  children  forever" — Deut.  xxix.  29.  We  accept 
the  one  as  a  stupendous  fact;  the  other  is  but  its  logical 
sequence. 

In  this  spirit  let  us  diligently  examine  what  has 
been  revealed  unto  us  that  we  may  ascertain 

HOW   THIS   REVELATION    HAS   BEEN   GIVEN. 

1.     By  Direct  Declaration. 

God  commanded  Adam,  and  Adam  heard  His  voice. — 
Gen.  ii.  16 ;  iii.  8 :  iv.  9-13 ;  vi.  22  ;  ix.  1.  The  Lord  spake 
unto  Moses  face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto  his 
friend. — Ex.  xxxiii.  11 ;  Josh.  i.  1. 


2.  By  Direct  Declaration  and  Manifestation. 

The  Lord  said  nafco  Moses,  Lo,  I  come  unto  thee 
in  a  thick  cloud  that  the  people  may  hear  when  I  speak 
unto  thee,  and  believe  thee  forever. — Ex.  xix.  9;  Gen. 
xii.  7;  XV.  18;  xvii.  3  ;  Num.  xii.  8. 

3.  By  Dream. 

And  God  came  to  Laban  the  Syrian  in  a  dream  by 
night,  and  said  unto  him. — Gen.  xxxi.  24;  xxviii.  11^- 
13;  xii.  25  ;1  Sam.  iii.  15;  1  Kings  ix.  2;  Dan.  i.  17; 
Matt.  ii.  22. 

4.  By  Vision. 

The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Abram  in  a  vision. — 
Gen.  XV.  ];  xlvi.  2;  Nnm  xii.  6-8;  I  Chron.  xvii.  3; 
Isa.  i.  1-2;  Dan.  ii  19;  Ezek.  xi.  24;  Obad.  i.  1;  Acts 
X.  19  ;  xvi.  9  ;  II  Cor.  xii.  1. 

5.  By  Lot. 

The  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  The  land  shall  be 
divided  by  lot. — ISum.  xxvi  55;  Josh,  xviii.  10;  Acts 
i.  :26;  Josh.  vii.  14-18;  I  Sam.  x.  20-21;  Lev.  xvi.  8; 
1  Chron.  xxiv.  19. 

6.  By  Angel. 

The  angel  of  the  Lord  called  unto  Abraham. — Gen. 
xxii.  15;  xvi.  9  ;  Ex.  xxiii.  20-22  :  Nam  xxii.  85  ;  Judg. 
ii.  4;  vi.  12;  xiii.  13;  I  K.  xix.  5-7  ;  Zech.  i  19  :  Matt. 
xxviii.  -5  :  i.  20;  Luke  i.  13  ;  Acts  viii.  26;  Rev.  i.  1; 
Heb.  ii.  2;  Gal.  iii.  19. 

7.  By  'putting    Words  in  the  Mouth  of  a  Prophet, 

The  Lord  put  a  word  in  Balaam's  mouth  and  said. — 
Num.  xxiii.  5  ;  Deut.  xviii.  18  ;  Isa.  ii.  16  ;  lix.  21 ; 
Jer.  i.  9. 


—  8  — 

8.     By   Voice  from  some  Visible  Object. 

To  Moses  out  of  the  burning  bush. — Ex.  iii.  4  :  to 
Balaam  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  animal  he  was  riding. — 
Num.  xxii  28  :  to  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  midst 
of  the  fire. — Deut.  iv.  12  ;  to  Job  out  of  the  whirlwind. — 
Job.  xxxviii.  1 ;  to  Peter,  James  and  John  out  of  the 
cloud. — Matt.  xvii.  5. 

9      By  Signs  that  the  Hearers  might  Believe. 

At  Sinai  the  people  saw  the  thunderings,  and  the 
lightnings,  and  the  mountain  smoking.  And  the  Lord 
said  unto  Moses,  Lo,  I  come  unto  thee  in  a  thick  cloud 
that  the  people  may  believe  when  I  speak  unto  thee,  and 
believe  thee  forever. — Ex.  xix.  9;  iv.  30-1;  Deut.  xviii. 
21-2  :  [  K.  xvii.  24;  II  K  xx.  8-11;  John.  x.  38;  xi. 
42  ;  xii.  30  ;  xx.  30-1  ;  Num.  ix.  16-18. 

10.  By  His  Spirit. 

The  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  Balaam.  And  he  took 
up  his  parable  and  said — Num.  xxiv.  23;  xi.  25  :  Ex. 
xxxi.  3;  I  Sam.  x.  10;  Judg.  vi.  34;  xi.  29;  I  Sam. 
xix.  20;  II  Chron.  xv.  1;  Zech.  vii.  12;  Ezek  xi.  5; 
II  Sam.  xxiii.  2;  Matt.  x.  20;  Acts  ii.  4;  viii.  29; 
xxi.  4  ;  Rev.  ii.  7. 

11.  By  Prophet. 

The  Lord  spake  by  Ahijah  unto  Jeroboam. — I  K.  xii. 
15  ;  xii.  22  :  xvi.  1  ;  II  K.  xx  1 ;  xxi.  10.  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  to  Cyrus. — Isa.  xlv.  1 ;  to  Tyrus. — Ezek.  xxvi.  15  ; 
to  Nineveh. — Jonah  i.  1-2. 

12.  By  His  Son. 

All  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my  Father,  I  have 
made  known  unto  you.— John  xv.  15. 


—  9 


GOD    HAS   ANSWERED   MAN  S    ENQUIRIES. 

1.  By  Uri7)i  and  TJiu'mmhn  (something  in  the  high 
priest's  breast-plate  that  gave  an  oracular  response). 
And    vvhen    Saul    enquired    of  the   Lord,   the   Lord 

answered  him  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor 
by  prophets,  till  there  stood  up  a  priest  with  Urim  and 
Thummim. — Ezra  ii.  63  :  Neh.  vii.  65.  (According  to 
the  rabbis,  the  Urim  and  Thummim  lasted  until  the 
temple,  the  Spirit  of  Prophecy  until  Malachi;  the  Bath  Kol 
downwards.)     Bath  Kol — Gen.  xxiv.  14  ;  I  Sam.  xiv.  9. 

2.  By  yrophet 

When  the  children  of  Israel  cried  unto  the  Lord 
because  of  the  Midianites,  the  Lord  sent  a  prophet  unto 
them  who  said:  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel. — 
Judges  vi.  7,  8;  I  Sam.  ix.  9  ;  I  K.  xx.  13  ;  xx.  35;  II 
K.  viii.  7-9  ;  Ezek.  xx.  1  ;  Jer.  xxi.  1,  2. 

3.  By  prophetess. 

Josiah  enquired  of  the  Lord  through  Huldah  the 
prophetess,  II  K.  xxii.  14,  concerning  the  book  of  the  law. 

4.  By  a  sign  proposed  hy  the  enquirer. 

Abraham's  servant  in  selecting  a  wife  for  Isaac. — Gen. 
xxiv.  14;  Gideon  by  dew  on  the  fleece  of  wool  learns  that 
God  will  save  Israel  by  his  hand. — Judges  vi.  37  ;  I  Sam. 
vi.  1-12  ;  xiv.  9,  10  ;  I  K.  xviii.  21-3. 

5.  By  a  minstrel. 

But  now  bring  me  a  minstrel.  And  it  came  to  pass 
when  the  minstrel  played,  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
came  upon  him  (Elisha)  and  he  said:  Thus  saith  the 
Lord.— II  K.  iii.  15,  16. 


—   10  — 

6.  By  ephod. 

And  David  said  to  Abiathar:  Bring  hither  the  ephod. 
Then  said  David,  O  Lord  God,  I  beseech  thee. — I  Sam. 
xxiii.  9-11  ;  xxx.  7,  8. 

7.  By  brazen  altar. 

And  king  Ahaz  said  :  The  brazen  altar  shall  be  for 
me  to  enquire  by. — II  K.  xvi.  15. 

8.  By  lot. 

The  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap  :  but  the  whole  disposing 
thereof  is  of  the  Lord. —  Prov.  xvi.  33.  Matthias  to  replace 
Judas  among  the  twelve. — Acts  i.  24,  25. 

9.  By  His  Son. 

Simeon,  waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Israel,  took 
the  child  Jesus  in  his  arms  and  said:  Mine  eyes  have 
seen  thy  salvation. — -Luke  ii.  25-30.  Philip  saith :  Shew 
us  the  Father.  Jesus  said  :  Have  I  been  so  long  time 
with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me? — John  xiv. 
8,  9.     He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father. 

GOD   HAS   LEFT   PERPETUAL   WITNESS   TO   HIS   SPOKEN 
TRUTH  (Acts  xiv.  17). 

1.     In  creation. 

The  invisible  things  of  Him  since  the  creation  of  the 
world  (even  His  everlasting  power  and  divinity)  are 
clearly  seen,  being  perceived  through  the  things  that  are 
made.  That  which  may  be  known  of  God  is  manifest 
to  them,  for  God  manifested  it  unto  them. — Rom.  i.  19,  20  ; 
Ps.  xix.  1-3.* 


*  lu  every  acqiiiremenb  of  knowledge,  there  are  two  essential 
factors — the  teacher  and  the  taught.  Each  individual  in  each  suceeed- 
iug  generation  comes  into  the   world   without  knowledge,   but  with  a 


—  11  — 

2.     In  the  course  of  nature. 

While  the  earth  reinaineth,  seed  time  and  harvest, 
cold  and  heat,  summer  and  winter,  and  day  and  night 
shall  not  cease. — Gen.  viii,  22.  I  do  set  my  bow  in 
the  cloud,  and  it  shall  be  for  a  token  of  a  covenant  be- 
tween me  and  the  earth,  that  the  waters  shall  no  more 
become  a  flood  to  destroy  all  flesh. — Gen.  ix.  13-15;  Matt. 
V.  45  ;  Acts  xiv.  17  ;  Job  xxv.  '6  ;  Acts  xvii.  25  ;  James 
i.  17. 

3.  In  His  Son, 

Tiie  word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us. — John 
i.  14;  18  ;  I  John  iv.  9  ;  John  iii.  18. 

4.  In  His   Word. 

Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  awa}^,  but  my  words 
shall  not  pass  away. — Mt.  xxiv.  35.  Thy  word  is  truth. — 
John  xvii    17  ;  Hosea  iv.  6. 

5.  In  miracles. 

The  works  which  the  Father  hath  given  me  to  do, 
the  same  works  that  I  do.  bear  witness  of  me,  that  the 
Father  hath  sent  me. — John  v.  36  ;  iii,  2;  x.  25. 


great  blank  capacity  for  bein^  taught.  God  first  taught  man  of  Him- 
self ;  then  God's  men  or  prophets,  and  lastly  God's  Son.  The  taught 
•were  to  commit  the  same  to  faithful  men  "  who  shall  be  able  to  teach 
others  also." — II  Tim.  ii.  2  ;  Deut.  vi.  7.  David,  taught  from  his  earliest 
years  that  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  while  watching  his 
flcicks  by  night  on  the  hills  of  Palestine,  could  lift  his  wondering  eyes 
to  the  starry  skies,  and  rapturously  exclaim  :  "  The  heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handiwork."  But  the 
Chaldean  youth,  barren  of  such  knowledge,  only  hearing  from  his  father 
or  neighbors  of  the  moon  god  and  the  sun  god,  would  as  naturally 
exclaim  :  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  the  moon  and  sun  gods. 
There  could  be  no  natural  theology  to  him  who  knew  not  God,  flia 
could  only  bo  a  natural  "  luuology,"  or  a  natural  "  heliology." 


—  12  — 


CHAPTER  II. 

How  men  by  disobedience  lose  communication  with  God 
and  are  destroyed — all  save  eight. 

In  the  first  chapter  we  learn  how,  from  the  beginning, 
God  made  Himself  known  to  men.  Let  us  also  learn  how 
men,  through  disobedience,  became  vain  in  their  imagi- 
nations, and  God  gave  them  up  to  uncleanness  through 
the  lusts  of  their  own  hearts. — Rom.  i.  24. 

God  created  man  in  His  own  image,  and  blessed 
them,  saying:  "Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish 
the  earth."* 

God  said  unto  Adam  in  the  garden  of  Eden  :  "  Of 
every  tree  thou  mayest  freely  eat,  except  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil."    But  the  helpmeet  of  Adam, 


*  '*  As  mftde  in  God's  likeness,  lie  is  able  to  know  Him  and  to  have 
communication  with  Him,  and  this  in  ever  enlarging  degree.  But 
however  great  the  spiritual  capacity  of  man,  we  are  to  lemember  that 
the  relation  hetween  God  and  man  is  a  personal  one,  and  that  to  be 
known,  He  must  make  Himself  known.  It  is  not  enough  tliat  man 
has  a  religious  nature — a  faculty  to  apprehend  the  infinite— or  even  an 
intuitive  belief  in  His  existence  as  Creator  and  Supreme  Moral 
Governor  ;  God  must  by  His  own  acts  enter  into  personal  intercourse 
with  men,  must  reveal  Himself  to  them  ere  they  can  truly  know  Him. 
The  possibility  of  intercourse  is  not  actual  intercourtic.  Likeness  to  his 
Creator  is  tlie  basis  and  condition  of  God's  personal  revelation  of  Himself 
to  man,  but  not  the  revelation  itself.  'J'his  knowledge  cannot  come  from 
any  study  of  God's  natural  works  around  him,  uor  fron)  any  study  of 
his  own  nature.  Knowledge  of  Him  and  His  will  amidst  all  historic 
progress  must  be  the  result  of  God's  continued  personal  self  revelation 
to  man,  such  revelation  as  shall  not  only  prove  His  existence  and 
Divine  nature,  but  be  also  an  expression  of  His  will  as  the  law  of 
human  action.  This  is  God's  voluntary  act.  He  comes  to  man,  He 
speaks  and  acts,  and  man  both  knows  that  he  meets  God  and  learns 
what  are  his  relations  to  Him  and  his  duties.  In  what  manner  God 
will  reveal  Himself  to  men  and  make  known  His  will  lies  wholly  within 
His  own  pleasure,"— God's  Revelations  of  Himself  to  Men.  pp.  2,  S. 


—  13  — 

Eve,  allowed  the  (old)  serpent  (called  the  devil  and 
Satan)  to  deceive  her  and  her  husband  also.  When  they 
heard  the  voice  of  God,  they  hid  themselves.  And  because 
of  their  disobedience,  God  said  to  the  woman  :  "  In  sorrow 
slialt  thou  bring  forth  children ;  "  and  to  the  man:  "In 
the  sweet  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread  ;  "  and  God 
drove  them  out  of  the  garden.* 

Adam  called  his  wife's  name  Eve,  because  she  was 
the  mother  of  all  living.  Two  sons  were  born  vinto 
them — Cain  and  Abel.  By  faith  Abel  offered  unto  God 
a  more  acceptable  sacrifice  than  Cain.  Cain  was  angry 
and  slew  his  brother.  God  said  unto  Cain :  "  The 
voice  of  thy  brother's  blood  crieth  unto  me  from  the 
ground ; "  "a  fugitive  and  a  vagabond  shalt  thou  be  in 
the  earth." 

When  men  began  to  multiply  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  the  sons  of  God  (gotten  from  the  Lord.  Gen.  vi.  1) 
saw  the  daughters  of  men  (taken  out  of  man,  Gen.  ii.  23) 
that  they  were  fair,  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all 
which  they  chose.  And  God  said  :  "  M}^  spirit  shalt  not 
always  strive  with  man,  for  that  he  is  also  flesh."  "  For  the 
flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the 
flesh,  and  these  are  contrary  one  to  the  other." — Gal.  v. 


*  "  Under  \vl)at  sensible  forms  God  may  have  manifested  Himself  to 
Adam  durin<;  this  period,  or  in  what  manner  made  laiown  Hi.s  will,  we 
are  not  told — Gen.  iii.  8.  It  is  thought  by  some  to  be  inconsistent 
with  the  spirituality  of  God,  that  He  should  manifest  Himself  to  men 
under  any  sensible  forms.  But  when  we  remember  that  the  great  end 
of  all  His  actings  is  the  revelation  of  his  Son^  God  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  we  see  that 
His  early  manifestation  of  Himself  to  men  through  visible  symbols — 
the  pillar  of  fire,  the  glory — as  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  in 
perfect  harmony  with  His  purpose  to  reveal  Himself  in  His  Son.  The 
local  and  sensible  ni»nifestations  of  Himself  in  Eden,  at  Sinai  and  in 
Jerusalem,  were  not  unworthy  of  Him  whom  the  lieaven  and  heaven 
of  heavens  cannot  contain,  for  they  had  their  ground  in  the  constitution 
of  man  as  both  material  and  spiritual  ;  and  all  pointed  forward  to  Him 
who  is  the  visible  imaiie  of  the  invisible  God,  and  to  the  time  when  the 
earth  shall  shine  with  His  glory," — God's  Revelations,  pp.  10,  11. 


—  14  — 

17.  "  Now  the  works  of  the  flesh  are  manifest,  which  are 
these:  adulter}^  fornication,  uncleanness,  lascivioiisness, 
idolatr3^  witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath, 
strife,  seditions,  heresies,  en\\yings.  murders,  drunkenness, 
revellings,  and  such  like:  of  the  which  I  tell  you  before 
as  I  have  also  told  you  in  time  past,  that  the}^  which  do 
such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God." — Gal. 
V.  19-21. 

God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the 
earth  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  heart  was  only 
evil  continually.  All  flesh  had  corrupted  His  way,  and 
the  earth  was  filled  with  violence  through  them.  So  God 
destroyed  them  by  a  flood  ;  every  man  in  whose  nostrils 
was  the  breath  of  life  died,  save  Noah  only  (himself  a 
righteous  man  and  perfect  amongst  his  contemporaries, 
to  whom  he  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness)  and  they 
that  were  with  him  in  the  ark.* 

When  the  waters  assuaged,  Noah  and  his  wnfe  and 
his  three  sons  and  their  wives  went  forth  out  of  the  ai'k, 
and  Noah  builded  an  altar  and  offered  sacrifice  unto  the 
Lord.  And  (lod  blessed  Noah  and  his  sons,  saying: 
"Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth." 

THE    EARTH    AGAIN    PEOPLED.      THE    BOUNDS    OF   THEIR 
HABITATION.      ALL   OF   ONE   BLOOD. 

The  sons  of  Noah  were  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth  ; 
"  and  of  them  was  the  whole  earth  overspread." 

Bv  the  sons  of  Japheth  "  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles 
divided  in  their  lands ;  every  one  after  his  tongue,  after 
their  families,  in  their  nations." 


*  "The  sill  of  the  antediluvians  was  not,  so  far  as  we  know,  the 
worship  of  false  gods,  but  tlie  indulgence  of  fleshly  lusts,  the  ignoring 
of  His  authority  and  rejection  of  His  witnesses  ending  in  the  gejieral 
dissolution  of  all  moral  and  social  bonds. — Gen.  vi.  11-13." — God's 
Revelations,  pp.  15,  16. 


—  15  — 

The  beginning  of  the  kingdom  of  Nimrod.  Ham's  son, 
Avas  Babylon,  in  the  hind  of  Shinar,  and  out  of  that  land 
went  forth  Asshiir  and  builded  Nineveh.  Canaan's 
des-^.endants  were  spread  abroad  "  from  Sidon  as  tlioii 
com^st  to  Gerar,  unto  Gaza,  as  thou  goest  into  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah  and  Admah  and  Zeboim,  even  unto 
Lashish."     Egypt  Avas  afterwards  called  the  land  ot  Ham. 

In  the  days  of  Peleg.  the  son  of  Eber.  Shem's  son, 
was  the  earth  divided.  The  descendants  of  Joktan,  Eber's 
son,  had  "  their  dwelling  from  Mesha  as  thou  goest 
unto  Sephar,  a  mount  of  the  east." 

By  these  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah  were  the  na- 
tions divided  in  the  earth  after  the  flood.  They  journeyed 
eastward  to  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar.  and  commenced 
to  build  a  city  and  a  tower  wdiose  top  should  reach  unto 
heaven,  to  make  themselves  a  name  ;  but  God,  to  restrain 
them  from  doing  that  which  they  had  imagined  to  do, 
confounded  their  language  and  scattered  them  abroad 
from  thence  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth.  Thus  wei-e 
the  sons  of  Adam  separated,  Deut.  xxxii  :  8;  thus  God 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  determined  the  bounds  of  their 
habitations. — Acts  xvii.  26. 


>  ^♦^►-^ 


—  16 


CHAPTER   III. 

Men  begin  to  worship  other  gods.     God's  condemnation 

of  idolatry. 

Let  us  now  ascertain  how  man  gradually  lost  the 
knowledge  of  God  and  became  hopelessly  entangled  in 
the  idolatrous  meanderings  of  his  own  imagination  and 
invention. 

Nowithstanding  all  this  knowledge  and  restraining 
hand  of  God  the  people  in  a  few  generations  changed 
the  glor}^  of  the  Incorruptible  into  an  image.  Terah,  the 
father  of  Abraham  (^called  the  friend  of  God),  the  seventh 
descendant  in  direct  line  from  Shem,  already  worshipped 
"  other  gods  "  in  his  native  place,  (J r  of  the  Chaldees.* 

The  Chaldeans  were  descendants  of  Gush,  the  son  of 
Ham. 

(This  is  proved  by  the  remains  of  their  language, 
which  closely  resembles  the  Galla  or  ancient  language  of 
Ethiopia. — Smith's  Bible  Dictionary.) 

*  "  Idolatry  taking  different  forms  in  different  lands,  but  essentially 
nature  worship,  early  became  very  prevalent.  A  considerable  time 
anterior  to  Abraham,  we  find  proof  that  polytheism  prevailed  in 
^^yV^-  ^  multitude  of  deities  of  different  orders  were  objects  of 
worship,  and  polytheism  became  general  in  all  the  region  of  Chaldea 
and  Mesopotamia.  God  was  indeed  not  left  without  witnesses  to  His 
unity  and  supremacy.  Such  a  witness  was  Melchizedek,  who  is  called 
a  priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  and  who  in  his  name  as  the  "  possessor 
of  heaven  and  earth"  blesses  Abraham.  —  Gen,  xiv.  18,  19.  And  such 
a  witness  was  Abraham.  But  scattered  individuals  or  families  could 
not  effectually  resist  the  strong  tendencies  to  idolatry  everywhere 
prevailing.  The  time  had  come  for  a  new  step  in  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion, a  new  manifestation  of  God  to  men,  an  assertion  of  Himself 
before  all  the  world  as  the  one  supreme  God  in  opposition  to  all  idols. 
There  is  a  "fullness  of  time"  in  all  His  actings  ;  and  we  can  see  here 
two  elements  of  this  fullness — the  spread  of  idolatry  and  the  existence 
of  distinct  nations.  The  first  step  taken  by  God  in  this  new  form  of 
His  actings  was  the  call  of  Abraham  to  be  the  founder  of  a  nation." — 
God's  Revelations,  pp.  IG,  17. 


—  17  -> 

"They  were  renowned  for  the  study  of  the  heavens 
and  the  worship  of  the  stars." — Ten  Great  Religions, 
p.  406 

"  With  a  tendency  toward  monotheism,  in  the  dim 
perception  of  the  one  supreme  ruler  of  the  universe,  the 
practical  polytheism  of  the  country  had  its  gods  and 
goddesses,  each  great  city  having  its  favorite  deity.  Thus 
Ur  reverenced  the  moon-god;  Ellasar  paid  special  homage 
to  the  sun." — Sanderson's  History  of  the  World,  p   IS. 

Thus  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  Him  not 
as  God,  but  changed  His  truth  into  a  lie,  and  worshipped 
and  served  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator.  So  that 
the}^  are  without  excuse,  because  that  which  may  be 
known  of  God  is  manifest  to  them,  for  God  hath  showed 
it  unto  them. 

"  God  has  ever  forbidden  the  worship  of  other  gods." — 
Ex.  XX.  3 — whether  the  sun,  moon,  or  any  of  the  host 
of  heaven. —  Deut.  xvii.  3 — visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  of  them  that  hate  him,  and 
showing  mercy  unto  those  who  love  him.  Repentance 
has  ever  been  the  way  of  return  to  God. 

Chaldea  did  not  repent,  wherefore  it  became  a 
spoil. — -Jer.  1.  10,  a  desolation:  Jer.  1.  45;  for  it  is  the 
land  of  graven  images,  and  theV  are  mad  upon  their  idols. 
— Jer.  I.  38.  Unless  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise 
perish,  says  Jesus. — Luke  xiii.  3.  Suppose  ye  that  these 
Chaldeans  were  sinneis  above  all  worshippers  of  other 
gods,  because  they  suffered  such  things  ?  I  tell  you,  nay. 
— Luke  xiii.  2,  3. 

god's    chosen    people    led    ASTRAY"   BY   THE   GODS    OF 

EGYPT. 

From  out  of  the  midst  of  a  people  thus  sunken  in 
idolatry  (Josh.  xxiv.  2)  God  called  Abram,  saying:  "1 
know  him,  that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his 


—  18  — 

household  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment  ;  and  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in  him." 

And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Abram  in  Canaan  and 
said  :  "  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this  land."  Famine 
arose,  and  Abram  went  down  into  Egypt.  He  returned 
with  Lot,  his  nephew,  and  dwelt  in  Canaan,  where  God 
said  unto  him  :  "  Know  that  thy  seed  shall  be  a  stranger 
in  a  land  that  is  not  theirs,  but  in  the  fourth  generation 
they  shall  come  hither  again,  for  the  iniquity  of  the 
Amorites  is  not  yet  full/' 

And  Lot  pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom.  The  men 
of  Sodom  were  wicked  and  sinners  before  the  Lord 
exceedingly.  Abraham  prayed  that  Sodom  might  be 
spared  if  ten  righteous  persons  were  found  in  it,  but 
there  were  only  Lot  and  his  wife  and  two  daughters,  and 
they  were  bidden  by  the  angel  to  flee.  The  Lord 
destroyed  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  because  their  sin  was 
very  great. 

Some  four  hundred  years  afterwards,  as  God  had 
promised,  Abraham's  descendants  were  brought  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  and  at  Sinai 
were  commanded  by  God  :  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me.  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any 
graven  image,  or  any  likeness  of  anything  that  is  in 
heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  that 
is  in  the  water  under  the  earth ;  thou  shalt  not  bow 
down  thyself  to  them  nor  serve  them."* 

Yet  how  prone  is  the  natural  heart  to  turn  away 
from  its  God!  After  having  seen  the  mighty  power  of 
God  displayed  in  bringing  them  out  of  Egypt,  even  while 

*  "  His  will  was  mtide  known,  sometimes  hy  an  audible  voice,  as  on 
Mount  Sinai,  or  by  the  High  priest  through  the  Urim  and  Thutnniini, 
or  through  His  word  spoken  l)y  Moses,  and  later  by  the  prophets. 
Ex.  iii.  4. — 41  ;  xv.  18  ;  xix.  19  ;  Num.  x.  35  ;  xxiii.  21  ;  Dent,  xxxiii. 
5;  iv.  12;  Ex.  xxviii.  30;  Nam  xxvii.  21  ;  Deut.  xviii.  18."— God's 
Revelations,  p.  20. 


—  19  — 

the  ten  commandments  were  beinor  written  on  tables  of 
stone  by  the  finger  of  God  Himself,  they  said  to  Aaron  : 
"Up,  make  us  gods  which  shall  go  before  us.  And 
Aaron  took  the  ear-rings  of  their  wives  and  their  sons 
and  their  daughters  and  made  a  molten  calf,  fashioning 
it  with  a  graven  tool.  And  they  worshipped  it.  sacrific- 
ing thereunto,  saying:  'These  be  thy  gods,  O  Israel, 
which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.'  "  For 
this  God  punished  them,  and  there  fell  of  the  people 
that  day  three  thousand  men.  —Ex.  xxxii.  28. 

If  these,  the  chosen  people  of  God,  thus  quickly 
forgot  His  love  and  care,  little  wonder  that  the  descend- 
ants of  Ham,  who  colonized  Egypt  (Gen.  x.  6  ;  Ps.  cv.  23\ 
should  by  this  time  be  so  far  lost  from  truth,  and  so 
steeped  in  idolatry.  It  is  stated  that  Pharaoh,  the  king, 
"gave  Joseph  to  wife  Asenath,  the  daughter  of  Pot- 
ipherah,  priest  of  On."  Now  the  chief  object  of  worship 
at  On  was  the  sun.  Jeremiah  speaks  of  On  under  the 
name  Bethshemesh,  the  house  of  the  sun  Jer.  xlviii. 
18.  Perhaps  it  was  on  account  of  the  many  false  gods 
of  Heliopolis  that  in  Ezekiel  (xxx.  17).  "  On  "  is  written 
"  Avon,"  by  a  change  in  the  punctuation,  and  so  made  to 
signify  "vanity,"  and  especiall}'-  the  vanity  of  idolatry. 

Through  Moses,  the  Lord  commanded  the  people : 
"  After  the  doings  of  the  land  of  Egypt  shall  ye  not  do 
(Lev.  xviii.  3);  ye  shall  no  more  offer  sacrifices  unto 
devils  (Lev.  xvii.  7);  through  Joshua:  "Put  away  the 
gods  which  your  fathers  served  in  Egypt";  and  through 
Ezekiel :  "  Defile  not  yourselves  with  the  idols  of  Egypt  " 
(xx.  7). 

"Their  religion  consisted  in  the  worship  of  personi- 
fied forces  of  nature — the  rising  sun,  the  overflow  of  the 
Nile,  Isis  the  earth,  wife  of  Osiris  the  creative  power, 
Amnion  the  god  of  heaven,  and  of  many  other  members 
of  a  pantheon  largely  made  up  of  deities  derived  from 
local  cults." — Sanderson's  H.  of  the  W.,  p.  15. 


~  20  — 

"  The  central  idea  of  Egyptian  theology  so  completely 
incarnates  God  as  to  make  every  t\pe  of  animal 
existence  divine.  Wilkinson  gives  a  list  of  over  fifty 
sacred  animals.  Isis  was  represented  in  the  form  of  a 
cow.  The  worship  of  Apis,  the  sacred  bull  of  Memphis, 
was  very  important." — Ten  Great  Religions,  p.  226. 

Thus  they  forgot  God  and  changed  His  glory  into 
the  similitude  of  an  ox  that  eateth  grass  (Ps.  cvi.  20)  — 
into  an  image  made  like  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds, 
and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things. — Kom.  i.  23. 
Wherefore  God  gave  them  up  (Kom.  i.  24)  and  pro- 
nounced woe  against  Egypt  thus  :  "  I  will  punish  the 
multitude  of  No  and  Pharaoh  and  Egypt  with  their  gods 
(Jer.  xlvi.  25);  I  will  destroy  their  idols  and  I  will 
cause  their  images  to  cease  out  of  Noph  (Ezek.  xxx.  13); 
the  houses  of  the  gods  of  Egypt  shall  burn  with  fire  " 
(Jer.  xliii.  13). 

THE  IDOLATROUS  CANAANITES  TO  BE  UTTERLY 
DESTROYED. 

The  Lord  spake  unto  Moses  face  to  face,  as  a  man 
speaketh  unto  his  friend  (Ex.  xxxiii.  11),  saying:  "I 
have  talked  with  you  from  heaven  '". — Ex.  xx.  22.  "  Mine 
angel  shall  go  before  thee  and  bring  thee  unto  the 
Amorites,  and  the  Hittites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the 
Canaanites,  and  the  Girgashites,  and  the  Gideonites,  the 
Hivites  and  the  Jebusites". — Ex.  xxiii.  23.  "Thou  shalt 
not  bow  down  to  their  gods,  but  utterly  overthrow  them, 
and  quite  break  down  their  images."  Ex.  xxiii.  24.  "For 
they  committed  all  these  things  — adultery,  incest,  so- 
domy, beastiality,  uncleanness,  cursing  parents,  going  to 
wizards  and  giving  seed  to  Molech — and  therefore  I 
abhored  them.  Because  of  the  wickedness  of  the  nations, 
the  Lord  thy  God  doth  drive  them  out  from  before  thee 
(Deut.  xviii.   12);  that  they  teach  you  not  to  do  after  all 


—  21  — 

their  abominations,  which  they  have  done  unto  their 
gods;  so  should  ye  sin  against  the  Lord  your  God". — 
Deut.  XX.  18. 

And  Moses  said  unto  Israel  :  "Ye  know  how  we 
caine  through  the  nations  which  ye  jjassed  by — the 
Amalekites,  the  I\lidianites,  the  Anakims.  the  Edomites, 
the  Canaanites.  the  Aniorites,  the  Moabibes,  the  Am- 
monites, Geshurites,  the  Machithites,  and  the  people  of 
Bashan — and  ye  have  seen  their  abominations,  and  their 
dungy  gods,  wood  and  stone,  silver  anci  gold.  I'ake  heed 
that  thou  be  not  snared  by  following  them,  and  that  thou 
enquire  not  after  their  gods,  saying  :  How  did  these 
nations  serve  their  gods?  even  so  will  I  do  likewise. 
Thou  shalt  not  do  so  unto  the  Lord  thy  God,  for  every 
abomination  to  the  Lord  which  he  hateth,  have  they 
done  unto  their  gods;  for  even  their  sons  and  their 
daughters  they  have  burnt  in  the  fire  to  their  gods  — 
Dent.  xii.  80.  The  remembrance  of  Amelek  will  be 
utterly  put  out  from  under  heaven,  because  his  hand  is 
against  the  Lord. — Ex.  xvii.  14-6. 

Thus  a^ain  we  see  that  even  as  these  nations  did 
not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God  gave 
then)  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,  to  do  those  things  which 
are  not  convenient:  being  filled  with  all  uni-ighteous- 
ness,  foi-nication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  malicious- 
ness; full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity; 
whisperers,  backbiters,  haters  of  God,  despiteful,  proud, 
boasters,  inventors  of  evil  things,  disobedient  to  parents, 
without  understanding,  covenant  breakers,  without 
natural  affection,  implacable,  unmerciful ".  —  Kom.  i. 
28-31. 

"For  the  wicked  shall  return  to  sheol,  even  all 
the  nations  that  forget  God,  saith  the  Lord." — Ps. 
ix.  17.  The  history  of  all  ancient  heathen  nations 
gives  abundant  confirmation  of  the  fulfillment  of  this 
prophecy,  e.  g., 


—  22  — 


PHILISTINES. 

Leh  us  first  notice,  in  order,  tlie  Pliilisfcines,  who,  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Isaac,  lifi'l  s'opped  all  tlie  wells  which  the  S(;rvant.s  of  Abraham, 
liis  fiither,  had  dijjfged. — Gen.  xxvi.  15.  The  pmphefs  desciibe  tiiem 
as  frnm  Caphtorims,  who  expelled  the  Avim  (iJeut.  ii.  23);  and  that 
these  a«<ain  were  descendauts  of  Mizraiui  (Geu,  x.  14). — Smith's  Bible 
Dictionary. 

The  Philistines  were  probably  nn  Aryan  people,  a  body  of  Pelasgi 
from  the  Island  of  Crete. — Ten  Great  Religions,  p.  421. 

They  appenr  to  have  been  deeply  imbued  with  superstition  ; 
they  carried  their  idols  witli  them  on  their  campaigns  (II  Sam.  v.  21) 
and  proclaimed  their  victories  in  their  presence  (I  Sam,  xxxi.  9).  The 
gods  whom  they  chiefly  worshipped  were  Dagou  (Judg.  xvi.  23;  I 
Sam.  V.  3-5;  I  Chr.  x.  10)  ;  Ashtaroth  (I  Sam.  xxxi.  10)  and  Baal-zebub 
(II  K.  i.  2  6).  Priests,  diviners  and  soothsayers  (I  Sam.  vi.  2  ;  Isa. 
ii.  6)  were  attached  to  the  various  seats  of  worship. 

Philistia  was  one  of  the  nations  the  Israelites  were  commauded 
to  destroy  in  taking  possession  of  Canaan. — Josh,  xiii    2. 

Iti  the  diiys  of  Hophni  and  Phineas,  when  they  had  taken  the  ark 
of  God,  and  Oauou  their  god  had  been  thi-owii  down  and  broken  in  the 
presence  of  the  ark,  the  lords  of  the(  Philistines  ordered  their  priests 
and  diviners  to  make  "  Images  of  your  emerods  and  of  your  mice  for  a 
trespass  offering,  and  ye  shall  give  glory  unto  the  God  of  Israel  and 
return  the  ark  of  the  Lord.  " — I  Sam.  vi.  5-8. 

When  Goliath,  the  Philistine,  cursed  David  by  his  gods,  David 
replied:  "I  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the 
God  of  the  armies  of  Israel,  whom  thou  hast  defied,"  and  David 
prevailed. 

The  Philistines  cut  off  the  head  of  Saul  and  published  the  event 
in  the  house  of  their  idols,  putting  Saul's  armor  iu  the  house  of 
Ashtaroth. — I  Sam.  xxxi  9,  10, 

In  the  time  of  trouble  various  "judges"  rescued  their  countrymen 
from  the  hands  of  the  Philistines  and  other  heathen  peoples, — Sander- 
son's H.  W  ,  p.  29 

The  remnant  of  the  Philistines  shall  perish,  saith  the  Lord  (Am, 
i.  8),  because  t  hey  carried  (the  Jews)  away  to  deliver  them  to  Edtmi, 
Because  they  have  taken  vengeance  with  a  despiteful  heart,  I  will 
execute  great  vengejince  upon  them  with  furious  rebukes,  and  they  shall 
know  tha,t  1  am  the  Lord.  —  Ezek.  xxv.  15-17  I  will  spoil  them  (.Jer. 
xlvii.  4)  ;  1  will  cut  off  their  pride  (Zech.  ix.  6)  ;  I  will  destroy  their 
land  thar.  there  shall  be  no  inhabitant  (Zeph.  ii.  5) 

Briefly,  their  history,  as  that  of  other  iieathen  nations,  may  be 
summarized  as  follows:  They  knew  God,  fell  away,  worshipped 
falsely,  became  au  abomination,  were  warned,  punished,  yet  promised 
mercy  upon  repentance  (see  Nineveh  [and  Ciiina,  we  trust]),  otherwise 
utter  destruction. 


—  23  — 


ASSYRIANS. 

Assyria  was  a  country  lying  along  the  Tigris  (Gen.  ii.  14), 
the  capital  of  -which  \va8  Nineveh  (Gen.  x.  11).  Apparently  it 
derived  its  name  from  Asshur,  the  son  of  Sheni  (Gen.  x.  22),  v.'ho  in 
later  times  veas  vrorshipped  by  the  Assyrians  as  their  chief  god. — 
Smith's,  B.  1). 

The  sun-god  was  a  great  object  of  worship,  as  was  also  Merodach  ; 
while  to  Nebo,  the  god  of  learning,  all  the  libraries  were  dedicated. — 
Sanderson's  H.  W.,  p.  18. 

In  Isaiali's  time,  the  king  of  Assyria  boasted  that  his  hand  had 
founded  tlie  kingdom  of  tiie  idols,  aiid  that  his  graven  images 
excelled  tliose  of  Jerusalem  and  of  Samaria;  "Wherefore,"  says 
the  prophet,  "  the  Lord  will  punish  the  fruit  of  the  stout  heart  of 
Assyria  and  the  gloiy  of  his  high  looks,''- — Isa.  x.  12.  Woe  is  also 
pronounced  through  Nahuui  (iii.  18):  "0  king  of  Assyria,  tliy  nobles 
shall  dwell  in  the  dust,  thy  people  is  scattered  upon  the  mountains, 
and  no  man  gntheieth  them." 

The  final  overthrow  came  6i33  B.C.  by  the  Medes  and  Babylonians. 
See  Ezekiel's  description  (xxxi.  13;:  "Upon  his  ruin  sluill  all  the 
fowls  of  the  heaven  remain  and  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  shall  be  upou 
his  branches." 

MEDES. 

The  Medes  are  mentioned  by  Moses  among  the  races  descendant 
from  Japheth  (Gen.  x.  ii.) 

Theiv  original  religion  was  dualism,  or  the  two  opposite  principles 
of  good  and  evil.  They  worshipped  the  sun  and  moon,  and  believed  in 
numerous  geniit  They  later  became  fire-worshippers  also.-— Smith's 
Bible  Diet. 

Through  Jeremiah  (xxv.  25)  the  Lord  pronounced  woe  against 
them:  "All  the  kings  of  the  Medes  shall  drink  and  be  drunken,  and 
spue  and  fall,  and  rise  no  more.  For  lo  !  I  begin  to  bring  evil  on  the 
city  which  is  called  by  my  name,  and  should  ye  be  utterly  unpunished  ? 
The  Lord  hath  a  controversy  with  the  nations  ;  he  will  plead  with  ail 
flesh  ;  he  will  give  those  wiio  are  wicked  to  the  sword." 

Darius  the  Median  decreed  that  whosoever  shall  ask  a  petition  of 
any  god  or  man  for  thirty  days,  save  the  king  himself,  shall  be  cast 
into  the  den  of  lions.  Although  the  king,  after  Daniel's  deliverance, 
issued  a  decree  enjoining  throughout  his  dominions  reverence  for 
the  God  of  Daniel,  his  kingdom  had  been  weighed  and  found  watiting. 
"  At  the  time  appointed  (Dan.  viii.  19)  the  end  shall  be.  The  ram 
which  thou  sawest  having  two  horns  are  the  kings  of  Media  and 
Persia." 

Of  all  the  ancient  Oriental  monarchies,  the  Median  was  the  shortest 
in  duration,  625  to  558  B.C. — Smith's  Bible  Diet. 


—  24 


PERSIANS. 

Perhaps  of  the  same  race  as  tlie  IMedes.  They  worshipped 
Oromasdes,  the  chief  of  tlie  gods,  and  larer  took  on  Magianism,  the 
worship  of  the  eleuieuts,  more  especially  of  the  subtlest  of  all  — fire. 

Cyrus  came  in  contact  with  the  Jews  on  the  overthrow  of  the 
Medes.  The  Lord  stirred  up  his  spirit  to  restore  this  race  to  their  own 
country,  and  his  decree,  permitting  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  was  carried  out  under  Darius  and  Ariaxerxes, 

The  downfall  of  Persia  by  Greece  is  predicted  in  Daniel  xi.  1 -4 : 
"His  kingdom  shall  be  broken,  and  shall  be  divided  toward  the  four 
winds  (;f  heaven  ;  and  not  to  his  posterity,  nor  according  to  liis  dominion 
wliich  he  ruled  ;  for  his  kingdom  shall  be  plucked  up.  even  for  oihers 
beside  those." 

The  empire  collapsed  under  the  attack  of  Alexander,  330  B.  C. 


BABYLONIANS. 

The  "  beginning  of  the  kingdom"  belongs  to  the  time  of  Nimrod, 
the  grandtou  of  Ham. — Gen.  x  6-10.  The  country  was  called  Shinar 
and  the  people  the  Akkadim, — Gen.  x.  10. 

Babylon,  meaning  in  its  Semitic  name  Babilu,  "  tlie  Gate  of  God," 
was  at  first  without  n  special  deity,  but  afterwards  worshipped  its  own 
chosen  protector  Meridug,  the  mediator,  or  Maiaduk  (in  Hebrew 
Merodacli),  god  of  the  planet  Jupiier.  —  Sanderson's  H.  W. 

After  the  Jews  weie  deported  thither  in  605  B.C.,  king  Nebu- 
chadnezzar made  a  deciee  that  all  should  honor  the  King  of  heaven, 
whose  works  are  truth,  but  the  people  continued  the  worship  of  idols. 

Again  and  again  did  God  ^ive  warning  through  the  prophets 
Jeremiah,  Jsa'ah,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel,  saying:  "Babylon  hath,  made  all 
the  earth  drunken  (Jer.  li.  7);"  [  will  visit  judgment  upon  tlie  graven 
images  of  Babylon  (Jer.  li.  47).  "I  will  punish  Bel  in  Babylon 
(Jer.  li.  44);"  We  would  have  healed  Babylon,  but  she  is  not  healed 
(Jer.  li.  9). 

All  warning  went  unheeded,  and  "Babylon  became  heaps,  a  dwell, 
ing  place  for  dragons,  an  astonislmient  Jind  a  hissing  (Jer.  li.  37).  Her 
cities  are  a  desolation,  a  dry  land,  and  a  wilderness,  a  land  wherein  no 
Bian  dwelleth.  neither  dotli  any  son  of  man  pass  thei-eby  Jer.  li.  43); 
for  by  her  sorceries  were  all  nations  deceived,  and  in  her  was  found  the 
blood  of  prophets  and  of  saints,  and  of  all  tbat  were  slain  upon  the  earth" 
(Rev.  xviii.  23). 


—  25  — 

god's    chosen    ISRAEL    NOT    TO    BE    SPARED    IF    THEY 

TURN    TO    OTHER    GODS.        THE  REMNANT   DELIVERED 

FROM   HEATHEN    CAPTIVITY    UPON   RETURNING 

TO    THE    LORD. 

Moses  again  (Deut.  v.  9)  reminds  the  people  of 
Israel  that  the  Lord  is  a  jealous  God,  who  will  have  no 
other  gods  before  Him  ;  and  adds  a  wise  admonition  as  to 
how  iiis  commandments  are  to  be  perpetuated:  "Take 
heed  to  thyself  and  keep  thy  soul  diligently,  lest  thou 
forget  the  things  which  thine  eyes  have  seen,  and  lest 
they  depart  from  thy  heart  all  the  days  of  thy  life  :  but 
teach  them  thy  sons,  and  thy  son's  sons." 

He  also  forewarns  them  as  to  the  causes  that  would 
lead  them  into  forgetfulness  :  "  Beware  that  thou  forget 
not  the  Lord  thy  God,  lest  when  thou  hast  eaten  and 
art  full,  and  hast  built  goodly  houses,  and  dwelt  therein, 
and  when  thy  herds  and  thy  flocks  shall  multiply  and 
thy  silver  and  thy  gold  is  multiplied,  and  all  that  thou 
hast  is  multiplied,  then  thine  heart  be  lifted  u]),  and 
thou  forget  the  Lord  th}^  God  (Deut.  viii.  11-4),  and  ihou 
say  in  thine  heart,  my  power  and  the  might  of  mine  hand 
hath  gotten  me  this  wealth  (Deut.  viii.  17)."  "They 
were  filled  and  their  heart  was  exalted  ;  therefore  have 
they  f  )rgotten  me  "  (Hosea  xiii.  6).  And  we  find  that, 
after  Joshua,  "  there  arose  another  generation  which 
knew  not  Jehovah,  nor  yet  the  works  which  he  had  done 
for  Israel  (Judge  ii  10);  and  they  were  given  over  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemies  whose  gods  they  served." 

He  further  forewarns  them  as  to  the  danger  of  for- 
getting God  that  "  when  they  shall  beget  children  and 
children's  children,  and  shall  have  remained  long  in  the 
land,  and  shall  corrupt  themselves  and  make  a  graven 
image,  or  the  likeness  of  anything,  and  shall  do  evil  in 
the   sight   of  the  Lord,   to   provoke    Him   to  anger,  the 


—  26    - 

Lord  will  scatter  them  nniong  the  nations,  and  they  shall 
be  left  few  in  number  ainoncr  the  heathen.  And  there 
they  shall  serve  gods,  the  work  of  men's  hands,  wood  and 
stone,  which  neither  see  nor  hear  nor  eat  nor  smell 
(Dent.  iv.  25)  "  But  Moses  also  foresees  the  mercy  of  the 
Lord  and  promises,  as  bo  the  possibility  of  returning  to 
God,  "If  from  thence  thou  shalt  seek  the  Lord  thy  Uod, 
thou  shalt  find  Him,  if  thou  seek  Him  with  all  thy  heart 
and  with  all  thy  soul.  When  thou  art  in  tribulation, 
and  all  these  things  are  come  upon  thee,  even  in  the 
latter  days,  if  thou  turn  to  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  shalt 
be  obedient  unto  His  voice  (for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a 
merciful  God;,  He  will  not  forsake  thee,  neither  destroy 
thee,  nor  forget  the  covenant  of  thy  fathers  which  He 
sware  unto  them"  (iJeut.  iv.  29-31). 

All  of  which  came  true,  for  we  find  the  Israelites 
soon  falling  into  the  worship  of  Baalim  and  Ashtoreth 
and  other  idols  of  the  country.  Their  history  is  a  series 
of  oppressions  by  heathen  conquerors  and  of  deliverances 
by  judges  raised  up  by  God,  followed,  later,  by  the 
reigns  of  kings  Saul,  David,  and  Solomon,  after  which  the 
kingdom  is  divi<led.  Jeroboam,  king  of  Israel,  set  up  a 
golden  figure  of  Mnevis.  the  sacred  calf  of  Heliopolis,  at 
the  northern  and  southern  sanctuaries,  Dan  and  Bethel, 
of  his  dominions,  with  the  address.  "Behold  the  God 
which  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  The 
succeeding  kings  of  Israel  walked  "  in  the  way  of,  or  did 
more  than,  Jeroboam"  until  721  B.  C.,  when  the  ten 
tribes  were  carried  captive  by  Sargon  into  Assyria  and 
placed  in  the  cities  of  the  ]\ledes.* 

Israel  thus  became  outcast,  and  her  record  is  wiped 
out  of  the   Book  of  Life,  just  as  is  that  of  the  family  of 

*  "  God's  dealings  with  them,  wliether  iu  acts  of  blessing  or  punish- 
ment, would  be  so  wonderful  that  they  would  draw  to  them  the 
attention  of  the  world,  and  so  serve  to  make  known  to  all  His  purpose 
in  them,  and  in  the  end  to  exalt  and  glorify  His  name'"  (Jer.  xxii.  ii-9  ; 
Ezek.  V.  8;  Mai.  iii.  12). 


—  27  — 

Cain  and  the  apostate  descendants  of  Noah  and  of  Abra- 
ham. The  history  of  Jiidah  is  a  conHich  between  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  (the  Supreuje  Eternal  Source  of 
Life)  and  Baal  (the  personification  of  natural  causes). 
Judah  is  stayed  by  a  few  faithful  kings,  as  Asa,  Hezekiah, 
and  Josiah.  but  is  at  last,  586  B.  C.  (like  Israel ),  carried 
captive  to  Babylon  by  Nebuchadnezzar  ;  where,  however, 
she  repents  of  her  unfaithfulness,  and  is  restored  from 
exile. 

Thus  the  Father,  in  his  wonderful  love,  accepts  the 
returning  prodigal,  who,  when  he  catne  to  himself,  said  : 
"I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  father,  and  will  sa}^  unto  him, 
Father,  I  have  sinned  against  heaven,  and  before  thee, 
and  am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son  :  make  nie 
as  one  of  th}^  hired  servants.  But  when  he  was  yet  a 
great  way  off,  his  father  saw^  him,  and  had  compassion, 
and  ran  and  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him." — Luke  xv. 
17-20. 

We  have  thus  seen  how  even  the  chosen  people 
continually  full  away  from  God,  and  went  out  after  the 
strange  gods  of  theif  heathen  neighbors.  What,  then, 
should  we  expect  to  be  the  record  of  those  who  from  the 
first  turned  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie  and  worshi[)ped 
and  served  the  creature  more  than  the  ( 'reator,  and 
whom  God  therefore  gave  up  to  their  own  lusts?  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  they  sank  so  deep  into  the  mire  of 
ignorance  and  superstition  that  they  sacrificed  some  of 
their  sons  and  daughters  unto  devils  ?  (Ps.  cvi  37),  and 
that  the  others  became  all  their  lifetime  in  bondaofe  to 
Satan  ?  (Heb.  ii.  15j.  If  for  a  long  season  the  people 
of  Israel  were  without  the  true  God  to  teach  them  (II 
Chron.  XV.  3),  do  we  wonder  that  the  heathen  Ephesians, 
to  whom  Paul  came  preaching,  were  without  God  in 
the  woild  ?  (Eph.  ii.  12).  "There  is  no  truth,  nor 
mercy,  nor  knowledge  of  God  in  the  land." — Hosea 
iv.  1. 


OQ    

With  no  one  to  call  them  back  from  their  pleasure 
in  wicKedness  and  sin,  Avoiild  they  not  finally  forget  the 
true  God  altogether  ?  Even  so  we  find  it  stated  many 
times  in  Scripture,  e.g.  Jer.  x.  25  ;  Ps.  Ixxix.  6  ;  Isa. 
Iv.  5  ;  J  Thess.  iv.  5  ;  IJ  Thess.  i.  8  ;  I  Cor.  xv.  34  ;  Gal. 
iv.  8  ;  Eph.  ii.  12.  Take,  for  example,  the  interesting 
case  of  the 

ORKEKS. 

P.-iul,  in  writing  to  the  The.-salonians,  speaks  of  "  the  Gentiles  who 
know  not.  God  "  (I  Tliess.  iv.  5). 

Moses  mentions  the  descendants  of  Javan  (Gen.  x.  2-5)  as  peopling 
the  isles  of  th-i  Gentiles,  The  OM  'I'estaTnent  word,  wiiich  is  Giecia, 
in  A.  V.  Greece^  Greeks  etc.,  is  in  Hebrew  Javan  (Joel  iii.  6  ;  Dan.  viii. 
21)  About  800  B.  C,  Joel  speaks  of  the  Tyrians  as  selling  the  children 
of  Jiidah  to  tlie  Gre.iians  (Joel  iii.  6).  Prophetical  notice  of  Greece 
occurs  in  Daniel  viii.  21,  and  also  in  Daniel  ii  39-13,  where,  in  tlie 
interpi-etarjon  of  the  king's  dream  of  the  image  representing  the  four 
great  empires,  the  brsiEen  belly  and  tliighs — the  Grneco-Macedonian 
kingdoms — are  superseded  by  tlie  legs  of  iron,  the  power  (.if  Rome. 
Isaiah  looks  for.  ard  to  the  conversion  of  the  Greeks  through  the 
instrumentality  of  Jewish  missionaries  (Isa.  Ixvi.  19). 

All  Greeks  worshipped  the  twelve  great  gods  of  the  Olympic 
pantheon,  developed  from  the  earlier  worship  of  natural  powers  Zens 
was  ruler  of  all  the  gods  as  well  as  of  men.  His  wife  Hera  Was  goddess 
of  matptiiiiy.  Hades,  god  of  the  lower  world,  was  represented  as 
brother  of  Zeus  and  Posseidon,  all  three  being  children  of  two  deities 
in  tiie  older  pantiieon,  Cronos  and  Rhea.  The  three  graces,  the  nine 
muses,  the  three  fates,  the  furies,  and  an  endless  variety  of  nymphs, 
the  local  and  lesser  deities  of  sea  and  forest,  fountain  and  stream,— all 
had  their  i-hare  of  regard  with  all  true  Greeks.  Their  religious  beliefs 
included  auguries,  or  observation  of  the  flight  and  song  of  birds,  and  the 
inspection  of  the  disordered  or  healthy  state  of  the  entrails  of  animals 
elain  in  sacrifice,  as  the  means  of  attaining  knowledge  concerning  the 
will  and  purpose  of  the  gods.— Sanderson's  H.  W.,  pp.  75-6. 

Paul,  on  visiting  Athens,  found  the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry. 
S<'me  said,  "He  seems  to  be  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods,"  and  they 
wanted  to  hear  the  new  doctrine.  Paul  said,  "  I  perceive  that  in  all 
things  yoa  are  too  supersf.irious.  For  as  I  passed  by,  and  beheld  the 
gods  that  ye  worship,  I  found  an  altar  with  this  inscription.  To  The 
Unknown  God.  Whom  therefore  ye  iguorantly  worship,  hin;  declare 
I  unto  you.  We  ought  not  to  think  thar,  God,  who  made  the  world  and 
all  things,  is  like  unto  gold  or  silver  or  stone,  graven  by  art  or  man's 
device.  The  times  of  tliis  ignorance  God  overlooked,  bat  now  command- 
eth  men  everywhere  to  repent."— Acts  xvii.  18-30. 


—  29  — . 

Aiul  Paul  exhorted  the  Corinthians  to  flee  from  idolatry  (I  Cor.  x. 
14"),  for  some  with  conscience  of  the  idol  unto  this  hour,  eat  iiient  us  a 
thinj^  (iffeied  unto  an  idol,  and  their  conscience  being'  weak  is  defiled, — 
I  Cor.  viii  7.  The  things  which  the  Gentiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to 
devils  and  not  to  God,  and  I  would  not  that  ye  sliould  have  fellowship 
with  devils, — I  Cor.  x.  20.  Ye  know  that  ye  were  Gentiles  carried 
aw!iy  unto  these  dumb  idols,  even  as  ye  were  led, — I  Cor.  xii.  2.  Wliat 
agreement  hath  the  temple  of  God  with  idols  ? — II  Cor.  vi.  lO. 

Paul  wrote  to  the  Philippiaus,  Ye  are  in  the  midst  of  a  crooked  and 
perverse  nation,  among  whom  ye  shine  as  lights  in  the  world — Phil.  ii. 
15  ;  and  to  the  Thessalonians,  How  ye  turned  to  God  from  idols  to  serve 
the  living  and  true  God  (i.  9),  and  walk  not  in  the  lust  of  concupiscence, 
even  as  the  Gentiles  which  know  not  God, — I  Thess.  iv.  5;  the  Lord 
Jesus  takes  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God.  —  II  Thess.  i.  8- 

Athens  in  her  best  days  became  the  chief  college  or  university  of 
the  whole  civilized  world.  To  Athens,  the  most  promising  youths 
flocked  to  hear  the  discussion  of  high  themes,  the  discourses  of  jihiioso- 
phers  in  the  four  great  schools — the  Academic  founded  by  Plato,  the 
Epicurean  foutided  by  Epicurus,  the  Stoic  founded  by  Zeno,  and  the 
Peripatetic  founded  by  Aristotle.  In  groves  of  olives  and  plane  trees, 
Plato  discoursed  of  the  one  eternal  deity  ;  of  perfect  goodness  and 
wisdom.  His  illustrious  master,  Socrates,  believed  in  the  inimoitnlity 
of  the  soul,  and  sought  to  teach  men  how  to  attain  moral  and  intellectual 
truth  iu  ridding  themselves  of  self-delusiou  and  self-deceit.  —  Sanderson's 
H.  W. 

But  tliey  had  forgotten  from  whence  cometh  wisdom, — Job  xxviii : 
28.  Paul  writes  unto  the  Corinthians  :  '"We  speak  not  the  wisdom  of  this 
world,  nor  of  the  princes  of  this  world,  which  come  to  naught  (I  Cor 
ii.  6)  ;  for  after  that  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  world  by  its  wisdom 
knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save 
them  that  believe.  For  tlse  Jews  lequiie  a  sign,  ana  the  Greeks  seek 
after  wisdom.  But  we  preach  Christ  crucified  unto  (he  Jews  a  stumb- 
lingblock,  and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness  ;  but  unto  them  which  are 
called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom 
of  God.— I  Cor.  i.  21-4. 

The  complete  subjugation  of  the  Greeks  by  the  Romans  and  their 
absorption  into  the  Roman  empire  occurred  146  B.  C. 

So  far  as  we  Itave  now  examined  ancient  history,  we  find  literally 
fulfilled  the  truth  of  the  prophecy  :  "The  nation  or  kint/dom  that  will 
not  serve  Go(i  shall  pensh  ;  yea  shall  be  utterly  wasted." — Isa.  Ix.  12, 
One  more  illustration  must  suffice  : — 

ROMANS. 

The  "seven  hills"  (Rev.  xvii.  9)  formed  the  nucleus  of  ancient 
Romcv 

The  Aryan  immigration,  in  course  of  time,  spread  into  the  peninsula 
of   Italy.      The  early  Romans,  sprung  from  shepherds  and  husbandmen, 


—  30  — 

worshipped  the  gods  of  nature,  of  field  and  forest,  the  bounteous 
protectors  of  flicks,  or  donors  of  harvests,  like  Faunas,  Vertuinnu8» 
S:ifnrii  Ops.  and  the  gods  wlio  sliielded  the  lioase  and  its  inmates, 
gods  of  I  lie  family  (Lares  and  Penates)  ;  also  state  deities,  like  lier 
founder  Jupiter,  tier  defeiider  Mars,  and  Qtiirinus  the  deified  Romulus  ; 
also,  abstract  moral  entities,  as  Virtus,  Fides,  and  Pietas. — Sanderson's 
H.  W.,  pp.  09.  130. 

Piiul  in  his  epistle  to  the  saints  at  Rome,  says:  "  The  wrath  of 
God  is  revealed  from  heaven  aga.inst  all  ungodliness  and  unright. 
eonsness  of  men,  wlio  hold  tlie  trutli  in  unrighteousness  ;  so  that  they 
are  without  excuse  ;  because  that,  when  they  knew  God,  they  glorified 
liini  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful  ;  but  became  vain  in  tlieir 
imaginations,  and  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened.  Professing  them- 
selves to  be  wise,  they  became  fools:  changed  the  truth  of  God  into 
a  lie,  and  worshipped  and  served  the  creature  more  than  the  Creator, 
who  is  blessed  forever.  For  this  cause  God  gave  them  up  unto  vile 
affections;  for  even  their  women  did  change  the  natural  use  into  that 
whicli  is  against  nature  :  and  likewise  also  the  men  ;  being  filled  with 
all  nni-iglit eonsness.  fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  malicious- 
ness; full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity;  whisperers, 
backbiters,  haters  t)f  God,  despiteful,  proud,  boasters,  inventors  of  evil 
thintrs,  disobedient  to  parents,  without  understanding,  covenant 
bresikers.  without  natural  affection,  impliicable,  unmerciful — Rom.  i. 
18-31.  Ye  have  yielded  your  members  servants  to  uncleanness,  atid  to 
iniquity  \into  iniquity  whereof  ye  are  now  ashamed, — Rom.  vi.  19.  21. 
Ye.  in  times  past,  have  not  obeyed  God, — Rom.  ii.  30.  What  if  God, 
willing  to  show  his  wrath,  and  to  make  known  his  power,  endured 
with  nuich  long-suffering  the  vessels  of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction  : 
and  tliat  he  might  make  ktiown  the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the  vessels 
of  mercy,  not  of  the  Jews  only,  but  also  of  the  Gentiles?" — Rom.  ix  : 
22-4. 

It  may  be  that  some  of  those  Romans  "  both  Jews  and  proselytes" 
present  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  (Acts  ii.  10)  carried  back  the  earliest 
tidings  of  the  gospel,  or  it  may  have  first  reached  there  through  those 
who  were  scattered  abroad  to  escape  the  persecution  which  followed 
on  the  death  of  Stephen,  —  .Acts  viii.  4  ;  xi.  19.  At  length  the  apostle 
Paul  himself  came  to  Rome, — Actsx.wiii.  17.  He  made  it  known  unto 
them  that  tiie  salvation  of  God  is  sent  unto  the  (ientiles  (Acts  xxviii. 
28)  :  that  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the  revelation  of 
the  mystery,  which  was  kept  secret  since  the  world  began,  now  is  made 
manifest,  and  by  the  .Scriptures  of  the  prophets,  according  to  the 
conimandn;ent  of  the  everlasting  God,  is  made  known  to  all  nations  for 
the  obedience  of  faith, — Rom.  xvi.  25-6, 

Christianity  was  made  tlie  state  religion  under  Constantine,  A.D. 
323,  but  his  successoi's  apostatiz  'd  and  bee mie  utterlv  corrupt. 

The  downfall  of  Rome  predicted  iu  Dauiel  ii  41-5;  Rev.  xvii.  9; 
xix.  20,  came  to  pass  in  A  1\,  476. 


—  31  — 


CHAPTER    IV. 

How  men,  in   process  of  time,  divide  into  three  classes,    viz., 

God=fearing,  God=disobeying,  and  God=forgetting ; 

or,  the  righteous,  rebellious  and  pagan. 

We  have  now  seen  that  all  men  at  the  p.eginxing 
KNEW  GOD  (Horn.  i.  21;  Gen.  ii.  16;  ix.  8).  Hut  notwith- 
standing all  GoH's  spoken  truth  ..nd  His  witness  lo  it, 
they  very  soon  divided  themselves  into  two  classes  (Rom. 
ii.  7,  8),  viz., 

I.  Those  who  believed  God's  Word  and  taught  it  to 
others,  as  Adam,  Seth,  Enoch,  Noah,  Abraliam,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  the  children  of  Israel,  God-fearing  proselytes,  and 
Christians. 

II.  Those  who  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 
knowledge  (Rom.  i.  28).     These  latter  are  those 

1.  Who  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie. — 
Rom.  i.  25. 

(a").  Worshipping  and  serving  the  creature  more  than  the 
Creator. — Roiu.  i.  23. 

(b).  'J'his  is  thy  lot,  saith  the  Lord,  because  thou  hast  forgotten 
me  and  trusted  in  falsehood. — Jer.  xiii.  25. 

(c).  Every  man  is  become  brutish  and  is  without  know  ledo-e  • 
every  goldsmith  is  put  to  shunie  by  his  giaven  iuuige  ;  for  hi.s  nj<i]ten 
image  is  falsehood,  and  theie  is  no  breath  in  them. — Jer,  x.  J4-  I 
Cor.  xii.  2. 

(d).  God  told  things  from  the  beginning,  lest  man  sny,  idol  did 
this. — Isa.  xb'iii.  :}-8. 

(e).  A  deceived  heart  hath  turned  him  aside  that  he  ccinnot  de- 
liver  his   soul,    nor   say,   Is   there   not  a  lie  in  my  right  hand' Isa 

xliv.  20. 

(f).  God  m;ide  man  upright,  but  he  has  sought  out  many  inven- 
tions.— Eccle.  vii.  29. 

2.  Who  hold  down  the  truth  in  unrighteousness. 

Rom.  i    18. 


—  32  — 

(a).  Iwerj'  man  is  tempted  when  he  is  drawn  aw;ij'  of  hia  own 
lust  and  enticed.  Then  when  lust  hath  conceived,  it  biingelh  forth 
sill. — James  i.  14,  15. 

(b).  And  God  saw^  that  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  in  the 
earth,  and  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was 
only  evil  continually. — Gen.  vi.  5  ;  viii.  21. 

(c).  They  are  filled  with  all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  wicked- 
ness, etc  — Rom.  i.  29-32. 

((]).  Who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  wherein  in  time  past 
ye  walked  and  were  children  of  wrath. — Epli.  ii.  1-3. 

3.     Whose  foolish  heart  becomes    darkened. — Rom. 
i.  21. 

(a).      Vain  in  their  imaginations. — Rom.  i.  21. 

(b).  Having  the  understanding  darkened,  being  alienated  from 
the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  them,  because  of  the 
blindness  of  their  heart. — Eph    iv.  18. 

(c).  Being  past  feeling,  having  given  themselves  over  unto 
lasciviousness,  etc, — Eph.  iv.  19. 

(d).  For  ye  were  sometimes  darkness,  but  now  are  ye  light  in 
the  Lord.— Eph.  v   8. 

(e).  To  open  their  ej'^es  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  unto 
light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God. — Acts  xxvi.  IS. 

Resulting,  final  1}%  in  a  third  class,  viz., 

III.     Those  who  know  not  God. — I  Thess   iv.  5. 

(a).  Howbeit,  then,  when  3^6  knew  not  God,  ye  did  service  unto 
them  which  by  nature  are  not  gods. — Gal.  iv.  8 

(b).  Wherefore  remember  that  ye.  being  in  times  past  Gentiles 
in  the  flesh,  that  at  that  time  ye  were  without  God  in  the  world  — 
Eph.  ii.  11-2. 

(c).  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  taking  venge- 
ance on  them  that  know  not  God. — II  Thess.  i.  8. 

(d).  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  things  of  the  .Spirit  of  God, 
for  tliey  are  foolishness  unto  him  ;  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they 
are  spiritually  discerned. — I  Cor.  ii.  14. 

(e).  For  after  that,  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  the  Avorld  by  its 
■wisdom  knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching, 
to  save  them  that  believe. — I  Cor.  i.   21. 

After  Greece,  perhaps  our  most  striking  illustration  is 

CHINA  (Sinim). 

"Behold,  these  shall  come  from  far  :  and  lo,  these  from  the  north 
and  from  the  west;  and  these  from  the  laud  of  Sinim." — Isa. 
xlix.  12. 


—  38  — 

The  name  S'mim  is  identified  by  Gesenius,  Hitzig,  Knobel  and 
others  with  the  classical  Sinoe,  the  inhabitants  of  the  southern  part 
of  China.  It  is  certiiin  that  an  inland  commercial  route  connected  the 
extreme  east  with  the  west  at  a  very  early  period.  The  Sinae 
attained  an  independent  position  in  Western  Cliina  as  early  as  the 
eighth  century  B.  C,  and  in  the  third  century  B.  C  established  their 
sway  under  the  dynasty  of  Tsin  over  the  whole  of  the  empire. — 
Smith's  Bible  Diet.,  p.  907. 

Sanderson's  History  of  the  World,  page  644,  says  that  '*  the 
people  were  known  to  the  ancients  as  the  Seres,  the  Serica  of  the 
geographer  Ptolemy,  in  the  second  centurj'^  A.  D.,  nieaning  north-west 
China  and  adjacent  parts  of  Thibet  and  Chinese  Tartary." 

"Porcelain  vessels  with  Chinese  mottoes  have  been  found  in  the 
ancient  tombs  of  Egyptian  kings,  in  shape,  material  and  appearance 
precisely  like  those  which  are  made  in  China  to-day  ;  and  Rosellini 
believes  them  to  have  been  imported  from  China  by  kings  con- 
temporary with  Moses,  or  before  him." — Ten  Great  Religions,  p.  33. 

"The  most  essential  peculiarity  of  this  nation  (China)  is  the 
high  value  which  they  attribute  to  knowledge.  The  public  service 
examinations  form  the  basis  of  the  whole  system  of  government.  All 
of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  prepare  to  compete  are  obliged  to 
know  the  whole  system  of  Confucius,  to  commit  to  memory  all  his 
moral  doctrines,  and  to  become  familiar  with  all  the  traditional 
wisdom  of  the  land." — (Ibid,  pp.  40-41.) 

As  to  Wisdom,  Confucius  himself  tauglit:  "To  give  one's  self 
earnestly  to  the  duties  due  to  men,  and,  while  respecting  spiritual 
})eings,  to  keep  aloof  from  them,  may  be  called  wisdom." — Ana.  vi.  20. 
"In  matters  of  ceremony  and  music,  he  followed  the  men  of  former 
times." — Ana.  xi.  1.  "  He  handed  down  the  doctrines  of  Yao  and  Shun 
as  if  they  had  been  his  ancestors." — D.  of  the  Mean  xxx.  1. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  nation  practising  "the  wisdom  of  this 
world"  since  the  earliest  dawn  of  authentic  history,  and  what  is  the 
fruitage  thereof  ? 

Schmucker's  History  of  all  Religions,  pp.  259  64,  saj's  :  "  The 
existing  worship  in  China  is  a  confused  mixture  of  superstitions.  The 
most  ancient  is  Taoism,  founded  by  philosopher  Tao  about  600  B.  C, 
who  is  worshipped  along  with  a  host  of  tutelary  divinities,  while 
emperors,  warriors  and  illustrious  men  are  considered  demi-gods.  All 
these  are  embodied  in  idols  of  various  shapes.  Buddhism  was 
introduced  about  A.  D  69.  It  teaches  to  pray  to  the  god  Fu  and  to 
provide  for  his  worship  in  sustaining  priests  and  temples.  Punish- 
ment for  breaking  the  commandments  is  transmigration  of  the  soul 
into  the  bodies  of  rats,  dogs,  horses,  serpents,  etc.  As  a  consequence 
multitudes  of  idols  in  the  form  of  birds,  beasts  and  reptiles  are 
worshipped.  Mohammedanism  also  prevails,  somewhat  modified  by 
the  various  superstitions  of  the  other  creeds.  But  the  great  over- 
shadowing system  of  worship — it  can  hardly  be  called  a  religion — 
which  pervades  every  grade  of  society  in  the  empire  is  that  of  Con- 


—  34  — 

fucins,  a  philosnplier  wlio  flourished  550  B.  C.  He  taught  that  our 
ancestors  were  permitted  to  revisit  their  ancient  homes  and  confer 
benefits  upon  their  relatives — hence  the  worship  of  ancestors  is 
incuilcated  as  an  indispensable  duty — and  the  sacred  rites  performed 
in  menioty  of  tiie  departed  are  the  most  conspicuous  ceremonies  of  all 
classes.  The  natural  result  of  the  belief  of  visiting  spirits  is  the 
introduction  of  the  worship  of  genii,  or  good  and  bad  spirits.  Sacri- 
fices and  sacred  rites  are  now  performed  in  lionor  of  Confucius.  Besides 
these,  there  are  semi-religious  festivals  at  various  seasons  which  the 
common  people  observe  as  sacred  duties.  The  government  upholds  by 
its  patronage  nearly  every  form  of  idolatry  that  can  be  imagined." 
"It  has  been  observed  that  the  most  refined  nations  that  made  the 
greatest  show  of  wisdom  were  tiie  arrantest  fools  in  religion.  The 
barbarians  adored  the  sun  and  moon,  which  of  all  others  was  the  most 
specious  idolatry,  while  the  learned  Egyptians  worshipped  an  ox  aud 
an  onion.  The  Grecians,  who  excelled  them  in  wisdom,  adored 
diseases  and  human  passions.  The  Romans,  the  wisest  of  all, 
worshipped  the  furies.  And  at  this  d»y  the  poor  Americans  worship 
the  thunder,  while  the  ingenious  Chinese  adore  the  devil.  Li  Hung- 
chang  worshipped  a  lizard-like  worm  of  the  Yellow  River,  which  he 
carried  witii  him  in  a  bottle.  Thus  the  world  by  its  wisdom  knew 
not  God  (I  Cor.  i.  21).  Hence  we  read  of  few  philosophers  who  were 
converted  to  Christianity,  and  PmuI's  preaching  was  nowhere  so 
laughed  »t  and  ridiculed  as  among  the  learned  Athenians. — Acts  xvii. 
18-32  "—Matthew  Henry. 

Stanley  Smith  in  his  book,  "China  From  Within,"  p.  172,  shows 
that  the  ancient  Chinese  alretidy  had  lost  the  tine  knowledge  of  God. 
He  says  :  "  In  the  very  first  passage  where  vShang  Ti  (the  present-day 
term  for  God)  occuis  in  the  classics,  M'e  read  of  P^mperor  Shun  (2255 
B.  C):  He  'sacrificed  specially  to  Shang  Ti,  sacrificed  reverently  to 
the  six  honored  ones,  ofi"ered  appiopriate  sacrifices  to  he  hills  and 
rivers,  and  extended  bis  worship  to  the  host  of  spirits.'  Dr.  Legge, 
the  learned  translator,  says:  'The  truth  concerning  Shang  Ti  and 
His  worship — the  primitive  monotheism  of  the  race — had  been  per- 
verted even  in  this  early  time,  as  appears  from  the  other  clauses  in 
the  paragraph*'  The  'knowledge'  of  the  heathen  nations  of  God 
was  necessarily  faulty  and  relative.  It  consisted  of  such  an  approxima- 
tion of  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  as  could  be  gained  from  the 
ideas  expressed  by  the  highest  objects  of  worship  in  their  various 
pantheons. 

"The  one  saying  of  Confucius  in  which  he  uses  the  (old  as  well  as 
the)  present-day  term  for  God,  'Shang  Ti,'  is  not  his,  but  a  state- 
ment '  elegantly  displaying  the  regulations '  of  two  ancient  worthies, 
kings  Wan  and  Wu,  viz.,  '  By  the  ceremonies  of  the  sacrifices  to 
heaven  and  earth  they  served  Shang  Ti,  and  by  the  ceremonies  of  the 
ancestral  temple  they  sacrificed  to  their  aueestois.'  Christians  would 
call  this  idolatry,  with  Paul,  who  says :  '  The  things  which  the 
Geutilea  sacrifice,   tbey  sacrifice  to  devils  and  not  to  God.' — I   Cor 


-.  35  — 

X.  20.  Further,  if  we  hunt  up  the  Book  of  History  to  fii)d  whom 
they  did  worslnp,  we  find  the  following  sentenoes  by  king  VVu  iiim- 
self  :  'Heaven  and  earth  are  the  father  and  mother  of  all  creatures  ; 
and,  of  all  creatures,  man  is  the  most  highly  endowed.'  Lower  down 
king  VVu  speaks  of  the  tyrannies  of  Shou  (B.  C.  1154),  and  uses  this 
language  :  '  He  sits  squatting  on  his  lieels,  not  servinir  Shang  Ti  nor 
the  spirits  of  heaven  and  eartli.'  Lastly,  king  \Vu  says:  '1  have 
received  from  my  deceased  father,  Wen  ;  I  have  offered  special 
sacrifice  to  Shang  Ti  ;  I  have  performed  the  due  services  to  the  great 
earth.'  All  of  which  substantiates  other  history  that  the  ancieub 
Chinese  worshipped  the  spirits  of  heaven,  earth  and  men. 

"The  worship  of  '  heaven  and  earth  '  is  absolutely  universal  in 
China.  The  God  we  read  of  in  Genesis  i.  1,  who  is  both  antecedent 
to,  and  independent  of,  heaven  and  earth  will,  we  l»elieve,  not  be 
found  in  the  classics.  It  is  one  thing  to  quote  passages  about 
•  heaven'  to  the  Chinese,  and  quite  another  thing  to  do  as  L)r.  Legge 
did,  to  go  to  the  temple  of  Heaven  in  Peking  and  there  sing  the 
doxology  in  honor  of  tlie  true  God  who  had  been  worshipped  by  the 
Emperors  of  China  for  four  milleuiums.  He  did  it  no  doubt  out  of 
the  fulness  of  his  generous  heart,  but  we  fancy  in  doing  so,  his  feelings 
ran  away  with  his  judgment." — Stanley  Smith. 

"China's  Millions  "  for  January,  I'QOS,  gives  as  an  illustration  of  the 
stronghold  that  idolatry  has  even  in  the  highest  and  most  enlightened 
quarters  in  China,  the  following  extract  from  an  imperial  decree 
issued  October  29,  1902:  "Decree  acknowledging  receipt  of 
memorial  from  Hsi  Liang,  governor  of  Honan,  leporting  the  peaceful 
condition  this  summer  of  that  section  of  the  Yellow  River  draining 
Honan  province,  due  in  a  great  measure  to  the  watchful  energy  of  the 
officials  cotinected  with  the  conservation  of  the  river  and  of  the  kind 
interposition  of  the  dragon  god.  In  response  to  this,  the  Empress- 
Dowager  commands  that  ten  large  stiek-s  of  Thibetan  incense  be  sent 
to  the  Honan  provincial  capital  and  handed  to  the  said  governor,  who 
is  to  offer  them  as  a  sacrifice  at  the  temple  of  the  river  god  on  behalf 
of  the  Empress-Dowager  and  Emperor,  as  a  mark  of  the  Imperial 
gratitude  for  the  protection  of  the  said  god."  On  which  the  editor 
comments  as  follows:  "0  Lord  God,  holy  and  true:  How  long? 
How  long  will  rational  beings  afifront  thy  Godhead?  How  long  will 
men,  lost,  contemn  their  Creator  and  adore  His  creatures?  Earth 
and  heaven  answer.  How  can  they  call  on  Him  of  whom  they  have 
not  heard?     And  how  can  they  hear  without  a  preacher?" 

Rev.  C.  W.  Mateer,  now  many  years  a  missionary  in  China,  says  : 
•*  It  should  first  be  noted,  however,  that  since  the  dawn  of  Chinese 
history,  when  Shun  upon  ascending  the  throne  offered  sacrifice  to  the 
Supreme  Ruler  ;  to  the  powers  of  nature,  and  to  the  hundred  '  Shen  ' 
the  Chinese  have  been  polytheists;  hence  it  is  vain  to  expect  that  their 
word  'god'  should  answer  to  the  Christian  and  monotheistic  word 
God  ;  and,  in  point  of  fact,  no  one  has  ever  maintained  this  concerning 
the  word  Shen.     We  are  therefore  quite  justified  in  taking,  not  the 


—  36  — 

definition  of  the  Christian  word  God,  but  rather  the  ground  idea  of 
divinity  as  it  exists  in  the  miiids  of  polytheists,  and  which  is  common 
to  all  heathen  nations.      Shen  is 

1.  It  is  used  in  a  personal  sense  of  the  numerous  invisible  beings 
worshipped  by  tlie  Chinese. 

2.  It  is  used  in  an*  impersonal  sense  of  the  divine  soul  or  mind  of 
the  universe. 

3.  It  is  used  in  a  semi-personal  sense  of  the  souls  of  men  and 
beasts. 

Of  these  three,  the  first  is  the  original  or  primary  sense  ;  the  other 
two  are  derivative  and  .secondary.  Besides  these,  there  are  a  number 
of  metaphorical  and  figurative  senses,  all  of  which  are  based  upon, 
and  derive  their  signifioatiou  from,  one  or  other  of  these." 

IT  PLEASED  GOD  BY  THE  FOOLISHNESS  OF  PREACHING 
TO  SAVE   THEM   THAT  BELIEVE. 

As  early  as  A.  D.  505  Christianity  in  its  Nestorian  form  appears 
to  have  penetrated  China  from  the  West.  In  1280  the  Nestorians 
flourished  in  North  China.  The  latin  form  of  Christianity  was  first 
introduced  by  John  of  Corvino  in  1292,  who  traveled  overland  from 
India  in  a  caravan.  Towards  the  close  of  the  14th  century  the 
Mohammedans  drove  the  Christians  from  Eastern  Asia.  Next  comes 
Xavier  on  the  scene,  from  India,  nearly  two  centuries  later  following 
the  Portuguese  who  came  via  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  In  1582  Matteo 
Ricci,  the  real  founder  of  Roman  Catholic  missions  in  China,  began  hia 
work.  In  1706  and  1720,  by  edicts  of  the  Emperor,  it  was  determined 
that  "as  the  papal  decrees  were  contrary  to  the  usages  of  the 
empire,  the  Christian  religion  could  not  subsist  there."  After  twelve 
centuries  of  Nestorian  and  Roman  Catholic  vain  endeavor  to  convert 
China,  a  mighty  stirring  of  the  missionary  spirit  in  Protestant 
countries  took  place.  Carey  went  to  India  and  Robert  Morrison  to 
China  (1807).     Since  then,  what? 

To-day  (1903)  there  are  2,930  Protestant  missionaries  in  China, 
viz.,  1,233  men,  868  wives  of  missionaries,  and  849  unmarried  women  ; 
or,  1,483  British,  1,117  American,  and  350  Continental  (principally 
Scandinavians  and  Germans).  There  are  three  Bible  Societies  (Amer- 
ican, British  and  Scotch),  three  tract  societies,  a  mission  for  the 
blind,  a  refuge  for  the  insane,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
and  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Christian  and  General  Knowledge 
among  the  Chinese.  During  the  sixteen  months  ending  with  the  year 
1902  no  less  than  373  new  missionaries  arrived  in  China.  There  are 
now  over  100,000  Chinese  Christians,  and  thousands  more  interested  in 
Christianity.     The  various  missionary  societies  report  large  increase 


•Perhaps  "  collective "  would  be  a  better  terra  than  "impersonal;"  the  latter 
meaning  "  wanting  personality,"  the  former  comprehending  in  its  signification  more 
than  one  person  or  spirit,  but  having  the  form  of  the  singular  number. 


—  37  — 

of  converts,  enquirers  and  baptisms  ;  the  '  Chinese  Christian  Union  ' 
has  revealed  a  robust  health  and  anxious  solicitude  for  their 
unerdighteued  biethren's  highest  interests  on  the  part  of  the  native 
Christians  ;  thu  establishment  of  the  Chinese  Christian  Endeavor 
Union  is  a  cheering  fact,  while  the  independent  and  self-denj'ing 
labors  of  many  friends  of  China  and  the  number  of  C-hinese  students 
learning  abroad,  all  contain  elements  of  hope.  —  Chinese  Recorder ^ 
January,  190-t. 

And   all   this   by    "the  foolishness  of  preaching,"  for  verily  God 
hath  spoken  :     "  My  word  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void." 


—  38  — 

CHAPTER   V. 

God  has  spoken  unto  the  Heathen. 
But  always  through  a  Man  of  God  as  Interpreter. 

Let  us  now  notice  how  God  has  ever  sought  to  save 
these  lost  ones,  not  willing  that  any  should  perish. 

I.  In  the  old  Dispensation,  through  the  Prophets. 
No  prophecy  of  Scripture  ever  came  by  the  will  of  man; 
but  men  spake  from  God,  being  moved  by  the  Holy 
Spirit. — II  Pet.  i.  21.  Every  Scripture  is  inspired  of 
God.— II  Tim.  iii.  16. 

1.  By  Drear)i  and  Interpreter. 

God  showed  Pharaoh  in  a  dream  what  He  was  about 
to  do  (through  Joseph,  interpreter). — Gen.  xli.  25. 

God  told  Nebuchadnezzar  by  dream  that  his  king- 
dom should  depart  from  him  (through  Daniel,  inter- 
preter).— Dan.  iv.  24. 

[See  "  Nebuchadnezzar,"  Part  II,  Chap.  VI.] 

2.  By  writing  on  the  ivall,  and  Interpreter. 

God  said  to  Belshazzar  (through  Daniel,  interpreter): 
"Thou  art  weighed  in  the  balances  and  found  wanting." — 
Dan.  v.  27. 

3.  By  Jewish  Maid. 

She  told  the  king  of  Syria  of  the  man  of  God. — II 
K.  V.  4. 

NAAMAN. 

He  was  commander-in-chief  of  the  Syrian  army  under  Benhadad 
II,  the  king  whom  he  accompanied  officially,  and  supported  when  he 
went  to  worship  in  the  temple  of  Rimmon.  But  he  was  a. leper.  A 
little  captive  maid  out  of  the  land  of  Israel  waited  on  Naaman's  wife. 
She  brings  into  tliat  Syiian  household  the  fame  of  the  name  and  skill 
of  Elisha.     Naaman,   with  a  letter  from  king  Benhadad  to  the  king 


—  39  — 

of  Israel,  and  with  a  present  and  a  full  retinue  of  attendants,  proceeds 
to  Samaria  to  the  house  of  Elisha,  Elisha  sends  out  word  for 
Naanian  to  bathe  seven  times  in  the  river  Jordan.  Naanian  is  angry, 
but  finally  does  as  commanded,  and  his  flesh  came  ajiain  like  unto  the 
flesh  of  a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean.  Then  he  and  all  his  coujpany 
came  and  stood  before  Elislia,  and  he  said,  Behold  now  1  know  lliat 
there  is  no  God  in  all  the  earth  but  in  Israel.  Thy  servant  will 
henceforth  offer  neither  burnt  offering  nor  sacrifice  unr.o  other  g(Kls, 
but  unto  the  Lord.  In  this  thing  the  Lord  pardon  thy  servant,  tliat 
■when  my  master  goeth  into  the  liouse  of  Rimmon  to  worship  there, 
and  he  leaneth  on  my  hand,  and  I  bow  myself  in  the  house  of  Rim- 
mon ;  the  Lord  pardon  thy  servant  in  this  thing.  Naaman  thus 
recognizes  Jehovah  as  his  God,  yet  does  not  bind  himself  to  any 
rigorous  observance  of  the  law. 

Here  is  a  very  plain  case  of  how  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God 
is  brought  to  those  lost  in  idolatry.  The  little  captive  Israelite  girl, 
kidnapped  by  the  marauders  of  Syria,  in  one  of  their  forays  over  the 
border,  brings  the  news.  Naaman  knew  before  that  there  were  gods 
in  the  earth,  but  it  remained  for  this  little  maid  to  tell  him  of  the 
one  true  God  and  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  unto  whom  only  he 
henceforth  promises  to  offer  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices.  He  had 
heard,  and  when  afterwards  out  of  a  good  and  honest  heart,  by 
nature,  as  he  could  not  by  commandment  (without  law,  as  he  was  not 
under  the  law),  he  did  the  things  contained  in  the  law  of  God,  he 
Would  be  a  law  unto  himself.  He  would  thus  show  that  thewoik 
of  the  law  was  written  in  his  heart,  his  conscience  also  beaiing  witness 
and  his  thoughts  would  accuse  him  if  he  did  any  wiong,  or  excuse 
him  if  he  did  it  in  word  or  form  but  not  in  heart  or  purpose.  Naaman 
had  many  years  before  recognized  Jehovah  as  God. 

4.     By  Prophet. 

Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  sent  Hazael  to  enquire  of 
the  Lord  by  Elisha. — II  K.  viii.  7-9.  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  God  to  Tyrus  (through  Ezekiel). — Ezek.  xxvi.  15. 
The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Jonah  saying,  Cry  unto 
Nineveh. — Jon.  i.  1-2.  The  word  of  the  Lord  which  came 
to  Jeremiah  the  prophet  against  the  Gentiles. — 
Jer.  xlvi.  1 ;  the  Philistines. — Jer.  xlvii.  1  ;  the  Chal- 
deans.— Jer.  1.  1.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  against  Moab  (by 
Amos). — Amos  ii.  1 ;  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts  against  the 
Ethiopians  (by  Zephaniah). — Zeph.  ii.  12. 

Thus  saith  the   Lord   to   Cyrus  (through  Isaiahj. 

Isa.  xlv.  1. 


—  40  — 


CYRUS. 


He  was  the  founder  of  the  Persian  empire,  B.  C.  559-529.  The 
edict  of  Cyrus  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  was,  in  fact,  the  begin- 
ning ot  Judaism.  So  mightily  was  king  Nebuchadnezzar  impressed 
that  twenty-thiee  years  after,  when  Cyrus  the  Great,  a  Persian  noble, 
conqu-red  Babylon  and  began  his  reign  there  in  B,  C.  538,  he  issued 
a  proclamation  for  the  rebuilding  of  tlie  Jewish  temple  at  .Jerusalem. 
This,  notwithstanding  the  idolatrous  and  evil  kings  intervening  be- 
tweeii  Nel)uchadnezzar  and  himself,  and  the  fact  of  iiis  Persian  origin, 
which  gave  him  Zoroastrian  dualaism,  Oiomasdes,  the  chief  of  the  gods, 
Mitlira  the  sun,  and  Arimanius  the  Evil  spirit;  and  added  to  this, 
Ma^ianism  or  the  worship  of  the  elements,  especially  the  most  subtle 
of  ..ill — fire.  Daniel  is  still  active  in  B  ibylon,  and  such  great  Jewish 
leaders  i"s  Zerubbabel,  Nehemiah,  Haggai  and  Zechariah  and  Ezra  are 
there.  Traces  of  their  advice,  perhaps  that  of  Daniel,  appear  in  the 
laru'uage  of  Cyrus'  decree  for  the  return.  Thus  God  stirred  up  the  spirit 
of  Cyrus,  and  be  made  a  proclamation  :  "  Now  in  the  first  year  of  Cyrus, 
kini'  of  Persia,  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord  spoken  by  the  mouth  of 
Jeremiah  miD:ht  be  accomplished,  the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit  of 
Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  that  he  made  a  proclamation  throughout  all  his 
kingdom,  and  put  it  also  in  writing  saying,  Thus  saith  Cyrus,  king  of 
Persia,  All  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  hath  the  Lord  God  of  lieaven  given 
me  ;  and  he  hath  charged  me  to  build  him  an  house  in  Jerusalem,  which 
is  in  Judah,  Who  is  there  among  you  of  all  his  people?  The  Lord  hia 
God  be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  Judah, 
and  build  the  liouse  of  the  Lord  Gcd  of  Israel  (he  is  the  God)  which 
is  in  Jerusalem.  And  whosoever  remaineth  in  any  place  where  he  so- 
journeth,  let  the  men  of  his  place  where  he  sojourneth  help  him  with 
silver  and  with  gold,  and  with  goods  an<l  with  beasts  beside  the 
freewill  offering  for  the  house  of  God  that  is  in  Jerusalem.  Let  the 
bouse  be  builded,  the  place  where  they  offered  sacrifices,  and  let  the 
foundations  thereof  be  strongly  laid,  the  height  thereof  threescore 
cubits,  and  the  breadth  thereof  threescore  cubits  ;  with  three  rows 
of  trieat  stones  and  a  row  of  new  timber;  and  let  the  expenses  be 
given  out  of  the  king's  house  :  And  also  let  the  golden  and  silver 
vessels  of  the  house  of  God,  which  Nebuchadnezzar  took  forth  out 
of  the  temple  which  is  at  Jerusalem,  and  brought  unto  Babylon,  be 
restored  and  brought  again  unto  the  temple  which  is  at  Jerusalem, 
every  one  to  his  place,  and  place  them  in  the  house  of  God." — Ezra 
1  and  6  That  (the  Lord)  saith  of  Cyrus,  He  is  my  shepherd  and 
shall  perform  all  my  pleasure  ;  even  saying  to  Jerusalem,  Thou  shalt 
be  built,  and  to  the  temple,  Thy  foundation  shall  be  laid, — Isa.  xliv. 
28.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  to  his  anointed,  to  Cyrus,  whose  right 
hand  I  have  holden  to  subdue  nations  before  him  ;  and  1  will  loose 
the  loins  of  kings,  to  open  before  him  the  two-leaved  gates;  and 
the  gates  shall  not  be  shut  ;  I  will  go  before  thee,  and  make  the 
crooked  places  straight.     I   will    break   in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass 


—  41   — 

and  cut  in  fnnder  the  bars  of  iron.  And  I  will  give  the  tre;isnreg 
of  d;u  kness  and  hiddpn  i  iches  of  secret  places,  that  thou  mayest  know 
that  I,  the  Lord,  which  call  thee  by  thy  name,  am  the  God  of 
Israel. — IsH.  xlv.  1-3 

Hitherto  the  great  kings,  with  whom  the  Jews  had  been  brought 
into  contact,  had  been  open  oppressors  or  seductive  allies  ;  but  Cyrus 
was  a  generous  liberator,  and  a  just  guardian  of  their  rights. 

Daniel  convinced  Darius,  the  Median,  of  the  living 
God.— vi.  26. 

DARIUS  THE  MEDE. 

He  succeeded  to  the  Babylonian  kingdom  on  the  death  of  Bel- 
shazzar,  being  then  sixty-two  years  old.  Only  one  year  of  his  reign  is 
mentioned  ;  but  that  was  of  great  importance  to  the  Jews.  He  is 
known  in  histor}^  as  Astyages,  the  last  king  of  Media.  He  Was 
dethroned  by  Cyrus,  but  probably  allowed  the  whole  royal  authority 
at  Babylon  during  the  last  two  years  of  his  life  (53S-5.S6)  while  Cyrus 
was  completing  his  new  'conquest.  We  know  that  Cyrus  treated  his 
dethroned  predecessor  with  the  greatest  honor  j  while  the  close  rela- 
tions of  Darius  with  the  captive  Jews  account  for  their  speaking  of 
him  as  the  king,  and  dating  the  year  of  his  death  as  the  first  year  of 
Cyrns.  The  testimony  of  Herodotus,  and  indeed  of  his  own  fate,  to 
the  weak  character  of  Astyages,  agrees  enHrely  with  the  impulsive 
and  vacillating  conduct  of  Daiius  toward  Daniel. 

Darius  lived  in  a  land  of  many  gods,  and  upon  the  request  of  the 
presidents,  governors,  princes,  counsellors,  and  captains  of  bis  kingdom. 
Fie  signed  a  decree  that  whosoever  should  ask  a  petition  of  any  god  or 
fnan  for  thirty  days,  save  of  the  king,  he  should  be  cast  into  the  den  of 
lions.  But  when  he  found  that  their  purpose  was  onlj'  to  entrap 
Daniel,  who  continued  to  pray  to  God  three  times  a  day  as  beforetime, 
Darius  was  sore  displeased  with  himself,  and  tried  to  deliver  Daniel, 
but  according  to  the  law  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  a  decree  once 
sij.'ned  by  the  king  could  not  be  changed.  This  king,  like  Pilate,  was 
too  weak  to  do  what  he  knew  to  be  right,  and  so  had  Daniel  cast  into 
the  lion's  den,  saying,  Thy  God  whom  thou  servest  will  deliver  thee. 
He  himself  could  not  sleep  that  night,  and  rose  very  early  and  went 
in  haste  to  the  den  of  lions,  and  called  with  a  lamentable  voice; 
*'0  Dfiniel,  servant  of  the  living  God,  is  thy  God  able  to  deliver  thee 
from  the  lions  ?"  Daniel  answered  that  God  had  shut  the  lions'  mouths, 
because  of  his  innoeency.  Then  the  king  was  glad,  and  ordered  all 
Daniel's  accusers  to  be  cast  into  the  den  of  lions,  and  they  were 
destroyed.  Then  king  Darius  wrote  unto  all  peoples,  nations  and 
languages  that  dwell  in  all  the  earth.  I  make  a  decree,  That  iu 
every  dominion  of  my  kingdom,  men  tremble  and  fear  before  the  God  of 
Daniel,  for  he  is  the  living  God,  and  steadfast  forever,  and  his  kingdom 
that  which  shall  not  be  destroyed,  and  his  dominion  shall  be  unto  the 


—  42  — 

end.  He  delivereth  and  resciieth,  und  he  worketh  signs  and  wonders 
in  heaven  and  in  earth,  who  liaih  delivered  Daniel  from  the  power 
of  the  lions. 

5.     By  Record  of  forvver  King's  Decree. 

Darius  finding  the  edict  of  Cyrus  decrees  that  the 
building  of  the  house  of  God  at  Jerusalem  be  not  hinder- 
ed.— Ezra  6. 

DARIUS  THE  PERSIAN. 

He  was  the  son  of  Hystaspis,  the  founder  of  tlie  Perso-Arian 
dynasty  (521-486  B.  C).  He  piusueil  the  same  policy  as  Cyrus  with 
regard  to  the  Jews,  and  restored  to  tliem  the  privileges  which  they 
had  lost.  ''Then  Darius  made  u  decree:  Let  the  work  of  this  house 
of  God  alone  ;  let  the  governor  of  the  Jews  and  the  elders  of  the  Jews 
build  this  iiouse  of  God  in  this  place.  Moreover,  I  make  a  decree 
what  ye  shall  df)  to  the  eldeis  of  these  Jew-s  for  the  building  of  this 
house  of  God  :  that  of  the  king's  goods,  even  of  the  tribute  beyond 
the  riverj  forthwith  expenses  be  given  unto  these  men,  that  they  may 
not  be  hindered.  And  that  which  the)'  have  need  of,  both  young 
bullocks  ami  rams  and  lambs,  for  the  burnt  offeiings  of  the  God  of 
heaven,  wlieut,  salt,  wine,  and  oil,  accortling  to  the  appointment  of 
the  priests  which  are  at  Jerusalem,  let  it  be  given  them  day  by  day 
without  fail,  that  tliey  may  offer  sacrifices  of  sweet  savors  unto  the 
God  of  heaven,  and  pray  for  the  life  of  the  king  and  his  sons.  Also 
I  make  a  dectee  that  whosoever  shall  alter  this  word,  let  timber  be 
pulled  down  from  his  home,  and  being  set  up,  let  him  be  banged 
thereon  ;  and  let  his  house  be  made  a  dunghill  for  this.  And  the  God 
that  hath  caused  his  name  to  dwell  theie  destroy  all  kings  and  people, 
that  shall  put  to  their  hand  to  alter  and  to  destroy  this  house  of  God 
which  is  at  Jerusalem." 

This  Darius  was  not  only  one  of   Persia's  greatest  sovereigns,  hut 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  mouarchs  t)f  all  time. 

II.     In  the  New  JDispensation,  By  His  Son. 
God  hath  manifested  His  Word  through  preaching. — 

Titus  i.  3. 

There  is  an  interesting  little  pamphlet  by  W.  P. 
Bentley  entitled  "Christ  Triumphant  Through  the 
Years,"  which  should  be  read  in  this  connection.  It 
gives  succinctly  the  spread  of  Christian! r.y  from  the 
begininng  of  the  first  century  A.  D.  down  to  the  close  of 
the  nineteenth.     This   dissemination   of  the   knowledge 


—  43  — 

of  Christ  differs  from  that  of  the  knowledge  of  God  from 
Noah  down  in  this  :  The  knowledge  of  (^lod  at  the  first 
was  taken  by  Noah's  descendants  wherever  they  went 
settling  the  then  uninhabited  world,  whereas  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  had  to  permeate  countries  already  peo- 
pled. In  the  first  case,  God  chose  out  a  people  to  keep 
His  name  and  worship  pure,  while  those  who  persisted 
in  going  after  strange  gods  were  "  suffered  to  walk  in  their 
own  ways"  perverting  and  forgetting  what  knowledge 
they  first  possessed,  with  few  (as  Jonah  and  other  pro- 
phets) to  call  them  back.  In  the  latter  case,  Jesus  sends 
His  disciples  into  all  the  inhabited  world  to  preach  the 
Gospel  and  make  disciples.  In  the  former,  what  few 
idolatrous  people  turned  to  the  true  God  were  called 
proselytes  ;  in  the  latter,  all  converts,  Jews  and  Gentiles 
alike,  are  called  brethren  (for  one  is  their  Master  even 
Christ),  and  these  in  turn  are  commissioned  to  teach 
others. — II  Tim.  ii.  2.  All  who  hear  and  obey  the  Gospel 
call  may  become  disciples  of  ( -hrist.'  Whosoever  will, 
ma}'  come.  Thus  we  see  that  the  knowledge  of  God  and 
of  t  e  Son  of  God,  comes  to  man  at  the  first  in  one  and 
the  same  way — by  direct  revelation  and  messenger. 
Jesus  says  :  No  man  knoweth  the  Father  but  the  Son 
and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal  Him. 

We  have,  as  yet.  found  no  recoid  of  men  hearing  of 
God.  without  God's  messenger,  preacher  oi-  prophet :  but 
we  will  now  give  two  New  Testament  instances  of  Gen- 
tiles hearing  the  Word  of  the  Lord  in  this  way  and 
believing  to  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  For  belief 
cometh  of  hearing  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  Christ. — 
Rom.  X.  17. 

1.      CORNELIUS. 

This  was  a  Roman  officer  who  had  lived  among 
the  Jews  to  his  own  good.  The  headquarters  of  the 
Roman  force    in    Judea  were  at  Caesarea.     Among    the 


—  44  — 

force  stationed  there  was  an  independent  cohort  of 
vohinteers  serving  under  the  Roman  standards  named 
the  Italian  "  band,"  as  consisting  of  volunteers  from 
Italy.  This  man  had  command  of  one  of  the  six  com- 
panies composing  the  Italian  cohort,  from  50  to  J 00 
men.  Jndea  had  been  under  Roman  sway  since  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Pompey  in  63  B.  C.  Caesarea 
was  built  by  Herod  the  Great.  It  was  the  official  resid- 
ence of  the  Herodian  kings  and  of  Festus,  Felix  and  the 
other  Roman  procurators  of  Judea. 

Here  is  an  interesting  case  of  a  Gentile  conversion. 
At  the  time  he  is  first  mentioned  he  is  a  Goii-fearing 
man,  so  devout  that  he  has  impressed  his  whole  house- 
hold. He  gives  much  alms  to  the  people  and  prays  to 
the  true  God  always  and  becomes  a  preacher  of  the  new 
faith  to  the  soldiers  under  him.  The  prayers  of  such 
men,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  God  hears,  God  sends 
an  angel  to  tell  Cornelius  that  his  prayers  and  alms  are 
a  memorial  before  Him.  "And  now  send  for  one  Simon, 
whose  surname  is  Peter ;  he  shall  tell  thee  what  thou 
oughtest  to  do,"  The  Jews  had  a  ceremonial  law  that 
Gentiles  were  unclean,  and  to  eat  with  them  would  be 
like  eating  unclean  animals,  Peter,  moved  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  went  and  said:  "  Ye  know  how  that  it  is  an  unlaw- 
ful thing  for  a  man  that  is  a  Jew  to  keep  company,  or 
come  unto  one,  of  another  nation;  but  God  hath  showed 
me  that  I  should  not  call  any  man  common  or  unclean." 
When  Petei-  arrived  Cornelius  said:  "We  are  all  here 
present  before  God  to  hear  all  things  that  are  com- 
manded thee  of  God."  And  Peter  said:  "God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons,  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
Him  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with  Him." 
And  he  commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  people  and 
to  testify  that  it  is  Jesus  Christ  which  wns  ordained  of 
God  to  be  the  judge  of  quick  and  dead.  Whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  shall   receive  remission  of  sins.     On  the 


—  45  — 

Genfciles  also  was  poured  out  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
And  Peter  commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord.  With  his  household  he  was  baptized,  and 
thus  Cornelius  became  the  first  fruits  of  the  Gentile 
world  to  Christ. 

If  it  be  said  that  Cornelius  was  spoken  to  by  God 
bv  means  of  an  angel  in  a  vision  and  not  by  means  of  man, 
it  is  replied  that  at  the  time  God  spoke  to  Cornelius  in  a 
vision  by  an  angel,  Cornel.ius  was  already  a  just  nian  and 
one  that  feared  God  and  of  good  report  among  all  the 
nation  of  the  Jews.  The  question  is,  How  did  he  first 
hear  of  the  true  God  ?  Who  taught  him  to  fear  the  God 
of  the  Jews  ?  And  thus  obtain  a  good  repoit  among 
them  all  ?  He  was  a  native  of  Italy,  whei  e  people 
worshipped  gods  many  and  lords  many,  but  where  few, 
if  any,  worshipped  after  the  manner  of  the  Jews.  How 
long  Cornelius  had  been  at  Caesarea  we  are  not  told. 
But  long  enough  to  have  a  good  report  among  all  the 
nation  of  the  Jews.  This  good  report  would  naturally 
arise  by  his  adopting  the  religion  of  the  Jews,  and 
thus  conforming  to  their  customs  and  ceremonies  in 
worship.  He  also  increased  his  good  nanie,  no  doubt, 
by  his  much  alms  to  the  people.  Nothing  would  so 
quickly  give  him  a  good  report  among  the  Jews  as  to 
fear  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  to  enter 
devoutly  into  His  worship,  as  taught  by  the  Jews.  For 
unto  the  Jews  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God,  and 
there  is  salvation  in  no  other.  Here  then  we  have  the 
most  probable  source  of  Cornelii:s'  first  knowledge  of 
God  and  of  His  worship  taught  to  him  (by  word  or 
observation)  by  the  Jews  among  whom  he  had  come  to 
live.  We  have  nothing  here,  or  elsewhere,  to  warrant 
the  supposition  that  any  Gentile  heathen  was  ever  called 
out  of  his  idolatrous  darkness  into  the  light  of  God's 
eternal  truth,  except  by  God's  own  appointed  messengers 
or  preacher.     We   have  no  miraculous  interventions  by 


—  46  — 

God  calling  heathen  to  believe  on  Him,  or  influencing 
them  to  return  to  Him;  hut  always  the  one  way  of 
human  agency,  whether  prophets,  apostles  or  preachers 
to  exhort  and  warn  them.  To  those  who  listen  to  tiie 
exhortation  and  warning,  to  these  he  gives  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  influence  their  hearts  and  guide  them  into  all 
truth,  Peter  himself  tells  how  Cornelius  obtained  knowd- 
edge  and  faith  :  "  Brethren,  ye  know  how  that  a  good 
while  ago  God  made  choice  .an)ong  you  that  by  my 
mouth  the  Gentiles  sho  ild  hear  the  word  of  the  Gospel 
and  believe, — Acts  xv.  7. 

2.      SYROPIIOENICIAN   WOMAN. 

Here  is  another  splendid  instance  of  a  Gentile  who 
was  without  the  law,  yet  who  did  the  things  contained 
in  the  huv.  Her  great  faith  was  not  in  idols,  but  in  the 
Lord  God.  She  worshipped  Jesus  as  her  Lord.  She 
could  not  do  this  by  commandment,  for  the  commnnd- 
ments  were  given  to  the  children  of  Israel.  She  wor- 
shipped by  nature  out  of  her  own  loving  heart, — slie  who 
was  created  in  the  image  of  God.  Jesus  told  her  plainly 
that  He  was  sent  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel.  She  was  of  a  mixed  race — half  Phoenician  and 
half  Syrian,  and  therefore  not  of  the  liouse  of  Israel. 
She  knows  this  perfectly  well,  for  she  addresses  Jesus  as 
the  son  of  David.  But  she  believes  that  Jesus  has  power 
to  heal  her  daughter,  and  has  faith  that  he  can  overlook 
the  fact  of  her  being  a  Gentile,  so  she  cries.  Lord  help 
me.  Jesus  reminds  her  that  this  would  be  taking  what 
was  intended  for  the  children  of  the  Master's  liouse  and 
giving  it  to  the  dogs.  "Truth,  Lord,"  she  replies,  fully 
realizing  the  position  of  the  Gentiles  before  the  law  given 
to  the  chosen  people  of  God,  "but  the  dogs  eat  of  the 
crumbs  wdiich  fall  from  the  Master's  table."  The  crumbs 
from  your  table  will  suffice  me      Your  crumbs  will  be  far 


—  47  — 

more  efficacious  than  all  the  riches  of  the  Gentile  world. 
I  believe,  as  Lord,  you  have  power  over  devils.  Jesus 
answered,  "  O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith  ;"  and  her  daughter 
was  made  whole  from  that  very  hour.  "  In  ever}'  nation, 
he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh  righteousness,  is  accept- 
ed with  him." 

Now  the  interesting  question  arises,  Whence  had 
this  Gentile  woman  all  this  knowledge?  She  knew 
there  were  people  called  Israelites ;  that  they  had  an 
ancient  king  called  David  ;  that  in  some  way  an  heir  of 
this  king  would  come  who  would  be  Lord  of  all — of  Gentiles 
as  well  as  of  Jews.  She  knew  how  to  worship  Jesus  as 
Lord.  She  believed  Jesus  to  be  this  son  of  David  and 
Lord  of  all.  She  knew  the  current  opinion  held  by  many 
Jews  as  to  outside  people  or  Gentiles.  She  humbly 
accepts  this  position,  and  asks  only  for  the  crumbs. 
Jesus  sees  her  great  faith  and  rewards  it  by  granting 
her  prayer. 

Whence  came  this  woman's  faith  ?  Faith  comes  by 
hearing  and  hearing  by  the  Word  of  Christ.  And  how 
could  she  have  heard  without  a  preacher  ?  Who  taught 
her  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  the  Messiah,  our  common 
Lord,  would  come  of  the  seed  of  David  after  the  flesh  ? 
We  are  not  told.  Certainly,  her  close  proximity  to  the 
Jews  would  make  it  quite  possible  for  the  knowledge  to 
have  been  communicated  through  them.  When  she,  as 
a  Gentile,  did  by  nature  (because  she  could  not  by  com- 
mandment) the  things  contained  in  the  law  of  Moses, 
she  showed  the  work  of  that  law  written  in  her  heart. 
Her  nature  spontaneously  burst  forth  in  worship,  as  she 
humbly  fell  at  the  Master's  feet.  She,  as  a  doer  of  the 
law,  was  justified  while  many  a  Jew  who  heard  but  did 
not,  remain  unjustified  before  God. 

Especially  are  we  not  told  that  she  evolved  this 
knowledge  out  of  her  inner  consciousness,  nor  that  the 
dim  light  of  nature    around    her   communicated    to   her 


—  48  — 

these  particular  facts,  nor  that  she  in  common  with  all 
God's  creatures  so  partook  of  a  religious  nature  that 
made  her  at  once  recognize  in  Jesus  the  son  of  David, 
the  promised  Lord,  David's  son  after  the  flesh,  who 
had  power  over  devils,  such  as  the  one  that  was 
grievously  tormenting  her  daughter.  She  intimates  that 
the  blessing  of  this  precious  knowledge  came  to  her 
through  the  Jews,  when  she  humbly  accepts  the  crumbs 
that  fell  from  their  table,  as  thev  were  the  custodians  of 
the  oracles  of  God.  As  she  is  meekly  willing  to  accept 
the  crumbs  of  healing  from  this  source,  we  may  infer  that 
the  crumbs  of  the  Gospel  she  had  heard  and  so  believed, 
came  through  the  Word  of  God  preached  by  those  unto 
whom  it  was  committed,  or  by  proselytes  such  as  she 
herself  became. 


—  49  — 

PART   II. 

How  God  Has  Not  Spoken  to  Man;  Or,  A 

Rebuttal   of  the   Claims  of    Natural    Theology. 


CHAPTER  V. 
The  Fruit  of  Evolution. 

After  Joshua  had  led  the  children  of  Israel  into  the 
land  of  Canaan  and  taken  the  cities  of  Jericho  and  Ai, 
the  people  of  Gibeon  (Josh.  ix.  3-27)  by  trickery  and 
deceit  secured  a  league  of  peace  with  him  and  the 
princes  of  the  congregation  ;  and  thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  Gibeonites  were  permitted  to  remain  in  the 
promised  land,  where  they  debased  and  corrupted  even 
the  Israelites  themselves. 

So  to-day,  under  (Ihrist's  command  to  go  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations,  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  He  has  commanded,  when  the  two  great 
English-speaking  nations  of  the  world,  and  some  others, 
are  called  CUiristian,  and  their  missionaries  are  carrying 
the  Gospel  into  the  uttermost  recesses  of  the  heathen  world, 
a  people  called  evolutionists  and  their  professors  seem 
to  have  made  a  league  or  truce  with  them  by  much  the 
same  method  of  procedure  as  that  of  the  Gibeonites. 
The  Gibeonites,  it  will  be  remembered,  by  showing  dry 
and  moldy  bread,  old  wine  skins  and  old  shoes,  souglit 
to  prove  that  they  had  come  not  Irom  Canaan  but  from 
a  far-off  country.  So  the  evolutionists,  by  unearthing 
the  fossil  bones  of  past  ages,  mummies  of  ancient  Egypt, 
the  clay-cylinders  of  long-lost  Babylon,  and  the  musty 
tomes  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  likewise  attempt  to 


—  50  — 

show  from  what  remote  region  and  venerable  ancestry 
they  have  coiue. 

Joshua  faithfully  kept  the  league  which  he  made 
with  the  Gibeonites,  while  they  in  return  enticed  the 
Israelites  into  the  worship  of  strange  gods,  which  after 
Joshua's  death,  brought  ihem  to  disunion  and  almost 
total  destruction.  Shall  we  not  profit  by  the  warning  of 
their  terrible  punishment?  Shall  we  not  drive  from 
our  theological  institutions  and  text-books  the  flattering 
inducements  offered  to  follow  atter  the  strange  gods  of 
evolution  ? 

Listen  to  how  our  text-books  are  becoming  inoculat- 
ed with  this  infection.  Prof.  Lewis  French  Stearns, 
author  of  Present  Day  Theology,  says  on  page  30: 
"There  are  many  not  so  wise  as  Thomas  Huxley,  who 
think  that  evolution  does  away  with  the  necessity  of  a 
Creator.  Yet  what  is  evolution  ?  It  is  only  a  law,  not 
a  cause;  it  shows  iis  the  method,  but  not  the  power  which 
has  brought  about  the  present  forms  of  the  inorganic 
and  organic  worlds."  And  on  page  9,  the  same  author 
says  :  "  There  was  a  time,  not  long  since,  when  the 
theory  of  organic  and  inorganic  evolution  seemed  to 
have  shattered  the  argument  from  design.  But  closer 
acquaintance  with  this  wonderful  hypothesis,  which, 
although  yet  unproved  and  doubtless  greatly  to  be  modi- 
fied, carries  with  it  so  great  a  weis^ht  of  probability,  has 
shown  that  it  is  a  friend  rather  than  an  enemy  of  the 
argument  from  evidences  of  design." 

Notice  that  Prof.  Stearns  first  calls  evolution  a 
"  U\w,"  next  "  the  method,"  and  then  "  this  wonderful 
hypothesis " ;  finally  ending  with  the  bland  assurance 
that  "it  is  a  friend  rather  than  an  enemy."  Does  not  all 
this  forcibly  remind  one  of  the  craftiness  with  which  the 
Gibeonites  showed  themselves  friendly  to  Joshua  ? 

But  let  us  hear  what  these  modern  Gibeonite  am- 
bassadors have  to  say:     In  an  article  on  the  Reception 


—  51  — 

of  Origin  of  Species,   published   as  an  appendix  to  the 
Life  and  Letters  of  ( 'harles  Darwin,  Prof.  Huxley  sa3's: 

"  Evolution  was  bound  hand  and  foot  during  the 
millenium  of  theological  scholasticism.  But  Darwin 
poured  new  life  blood  into  the  ancient  frame,  the  bonds 
burst  and  the  revivified  thought  of  ancient  Greece  has 
proved  itself  to  be  a  more  adequate  expression  of  the 
universal  order  of  things  than  any  of  the  schemes  which 
have  been  accepted  by  the  credulity  and  welcomed  by 
the  superstitions  of  seventy  later  generations  of  men  .  .  . 
Outside  of  the  ranks  of  biologists  in  1851-8,  the  only 
person  known  to  me  whose  knowledge  and  capacitj^  com- 
pelled respect,  and  who  was  at  the  same  time  a  thorough- 
going evolutionist,  was  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  whose 
acquaintance  I  made,  I  think,  in  1852,  and  then  entered 
into  the  bonds  of  friendship,  which.  I  am  happy  to  think, 
has  known  no  interruption.  But  even  my  friends'  rare 
dialectic  skill  and  copiousness  of  apt  illustration  could 
not  drive  me  from  my  agnostic  position." 

It  thus  readily  appears  that  this  first  ambassador 
interviewed,  Prof  Thomas  Huxle}^  who  asserts  that 
evolution  is  the  revivified  thought  of  ancient  Greece,  is 
a  confirmed  agnostic  by  his  own  confession.  And  this 
is  the  man,  you  will  take  note,  whom  Prof.  Stearns  says 
is  wiser  than  certain  other  men. 

Let  us  next  interview  the  Gibeonite  ambassador 
Spencer,  the  firm  friend  of  the  agnostic  Huxley. 

We  learn  that  Herbert  Spencer  was  born  in  1820 
at  Derby,  England,  where  his  father  was  teacher  of 
mathematics.  From  his  father  and  his  uncle,  a  Con- 
gregational minister,  most  of  his  early  education  was 
received.  As  Herbert  Spencer  is  now  said  to  be  the 
father  of  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  let  us  hear  what  he 
has  to  say  on  the  subject.  After  a  wordy  discussion  in 
his  book  entitled  "  First  Principles,"  he  arrives  at  the 
following  conclusion : — 


"As  we  now  understand  it,  evolution  is  definable  as 
a  change  trotn  an  incoherent  homogeneity  to  a  coherent 
heterogeneity,  accompanying  the  dissipation  of  motion 
and  integration  of  matter,  during  which  the  matter  passes 
from  the  indefinite  to  the  definite  and  during  which  the 
retained  motion  undergoes  a  parallel  transformation." 

How  phiin  and  simple  is  all  this!  And  how  much 
more  we  know  now  than  Ave  did  before  !  How  full  is 
such  a  definition  ! 

Prof.  Tait  translates  it  into  plain  English  as  follows: 
"Evolution  is  a  change  from  a  nohowish  untalkabout- 
able,  allalikeness  to  a  somehowish  and  in-general-talk- 
aboutable  not-all-alikeness  by  continuous  something 
elseifications  and  sticktogotherations." 

This,  certainly,  ought  to  make  it  plain.  But  serious- 
ly, what  kind  of  a  man  would  we  naturally  expect  Mr. 
Spencer  to  be  after  hearing  him  give  such  a  lucid  defini- 
tion of  evolution  ?  Should  we  now  be  at  all  surprised 
to  hear  him  say,  on  page  148  of  the  same  book:  "All 
things  known  to  us  are  manifestations  of  the  unknow- 
able"  ?  Does  not  this  reri;ind  one  of  that  inscription 
written  by  those  learned  men  Paul  found  at  Athens  some 
1900  years  before, — "To  an  unknown  god"?  And  yet 
this  is  the  same  Mr.  Spencer  of  whom  Prof.  Stearns  in 
Present  Day  Theology,  page  4,  says:  "When  Herbert 
Spencer  says  that  the  existence  of  God  is  a  necessary 
datum  of  consciousness,  he  concedes  all  that  the  theist 
needs  as  the  starting  ])oint  of  his  argument."  Think  of 
mankind,  created  in  the  image  of  God  and  walking  and 
talking  with  Him  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  having  to  wait 
through  six  thousand  years  of  posterity  for  Mr.  Spencer 
to  concede  all  that  is  necessary  to  believe  in  the  existence 
of  God !  Then  think,  friends,  what  consolation  there 
w^ould  be  in  observing,  as  yoa  pass  into  the  evening  of 
life,  Mr.  Spencer's  last  inscription  on  the  altar  of  evolu- 
tion • 'J'o  the  great  unknowable.' 


—  oa  — 

Another  Gibeonite  ambassador,  the  one  who  used 
the  evolution  hypotliesis  to  eliminate  God  from  the  plan 
of  creation  altoaptlier,  wa>*  Ernest  Haeckel  pi(jte«sor  ot 
Jena  University,  Germany.  In  his  History  of  Creation, 
page  6,  he  sa3^s:  "In  consequence  of  Darwin's  reformed 
*  Theory  of  Descent'  we  are  now  in  a  position  to  establish 
scientifically  the  ground-work  of  a  non-miraculous  history 
of  the  development  of  the  human  race.  .  ,  It  is  true  that 
Darwin  himself  did  not  at  first  express  this  most  import- 
ant of  all  the  inferences  from  his  theor^^  In  his  work 
'On  the  Origin  of  Species'  not  a  word  is  found  about 
the  animal  descent  of  man.  .  .  It  was  not  tdl  twelve 
years  later,  in  his  work  on  the  Descent  of  Man,  that 
Darwin  openly  acknowledged  that  far-reaching  con- 
clusion, and  expressly  declared  his  entire  agreement  with 
those  naturalists  who  had  in  the  meantime  themselves 
formed  that  conclusion."  Darwin  in  concluding  his  work 
says:  "  I  imagine  that  probabl}^  all  organic  beings  which 
ever  lived  on  this  earth  descended  from  some  piimitive 
form  which  was  first  called  into  life  by  the  Creator." 

Take  notice  that  all  the  ground  work  for  this 
wonderful  hypothesis  of  evolution  is  Darwin's  imagina- 
tion, for  he  says :  "  I  imagine,  etc.,"  and  you  will  not 
then  wonder  at  the  marvelous  result  obtained  by  Dar- 
win's disciple.  Prof.  Haeckel.  when  he  carries  it  to  its 
loofical  conclusion  as  follows:  "The  fundamental  idea, 
which  must  necessarily  lie  at  the  bottom  of  all  natural 
theories  of  development,  is  that  of  a  gradual  development 
of  all  (even  the  most  perfect)  organisms  out  of  ;i  single, 
or  out  of  a  very  few  quite  simple  and  quite  imperfect 
original  beings,  which  came  into  existence  not  by  su- 
pernatural creation  but  by  spontaneous  generation  out 
of  inorganic  matter."     Reductio  absurd um  ! 

Thus  has  evolution  gone  to  seed,  and,  though  the 
seed  are  worthless  and  have  been  disowned  by  the 
cultivators   of  the  plant,  yet  the  mass  of  these  tillers  in 


—  54  — 

the  field  of  evolution  still  make  themselves  believe  it  is 
a  goodly  plant,  and  will  bear  better  seed  if  a  fertilizer 
of  more  ancient  mould  is  used.  They  say  with  Prof. 
Haeckel : 

"  In  no  nation  have  these  preliminary  conditions  for 
the  origin  of  a  natural  theory  of  development  ever 
existed  in  so  high  a  degree  as  among  the  Greeks  of 
classic  antiquity.  .  .  One  man  only  must  be  mentioned 
here  by  way  of  exception — Aristotle — the  greatest  and 
the  only  truly  great  naturalist  of  antiquity  and  the 
Middle  Ages,  one  of  the  grandest  geniuses  of  all  time. 
In  what  degree  he  stands  there  alone  during  a  period 
of  more  than  2,000  years  in  the  region  of  empirico- 
philosophical  knowledge  of  nature,  and  especially  in  his 
knowledge  of  organic  nature,  is  proved  to  us  by  the 
precious  remains  of  his  but  partially  surviving  works. 
In  them  many  traces  are  found  of  a  theory  of  natural 
development.  Aristotle  assumes,  as  a  matter  of  certainty, 
that  spontaneous  generation  was  the  natural  manner  in 
which  the  lower  organic  creatures  came  into  existence. 
He  describes  animals  and  plants  as  originating  from 
matter  itself^  through  its  own  original  force ;  as,  for 
example,  moths  from  wool,  fleas  from  offal,  wood  lice  from 
damp  wood,  etc." 

And  this  same  ancient  Greek  Aristotle,  whom  Prof. 
Haeckel  says  was  one  of  the  grandest  geniuses  of  all  time, 
as  shown  by  his  description  of  how  moths  originate  from 
wool  and  wood  lice  from  damp  wood,  Prof.  Stearns,  in 
Present  Day  Theology,  quotes  in  attempting  to  prove 
from  nature  the  existence  of  a  First  Cause.  On  page 
12,  he  says:  "But  what  has  an  end  must  have  had  a 
beginning.  Thus  we  are  brought  back  to  the  necessity  of 
a  First  Cause,  or  what  Aristotle  called  a  Primum  Movens, 
a  power  which  initiated  the  motions  of  the  universe." 

But  now  let  us  hear  from  the  modern  Gibeonite  who 
appears  to  be  the  leader  of  the  evolution  ambassadors, 


—  55  — 

Charles  Darwin.  We  are  anxious  to  know  what  the 
chief  of  evolution  has  to  say.  In  his  autobiography 
published  by  his  son  Frank,  Mr.  Charles  Darwin  gives 
the  followinor  very  interesting^  account  of  himself: 

"  After  having  spent  two  sessions  in  Edinburgh,  my 
father  perceived  or  heard  from  my  sisters  that  I  did  nob 
like  the  thought  of  being  a  physician,  so  he  proposed 
that  I  should  be  a  clergyman.  He  was  very  properly 
vehenjent  against  my  turning  into  an  idle  sporting  man, 
which  then  seemed  my  probable  destination.  I  asked 
for  some  time  to  consider,  as  from  what  little  I  had 
heard  or  thought  on  the  subject,  I  had  scruples  about 
declaring  my  belief  in  all  the  dogmas  of  the  Church  of 
England,  though  otherwise  I  liked  the  thought  of  being 
a  country  clergyman.  Accordingly  I  read  with  care 
Pearson  on  the  I'reed.  and  a  few  other  books  on  divinity, 
and  as  I  did  not  then  in  the  least  doubt  the  strict  and 
literal  truth  of  every  word  in  the  Bible.  I  soon  persuaded 
myself  that  our  creed  must  be  fully  accepted. 

"  Considering  how  fiercely  I  have  been  attacked  by 
the  orthodox,  it  seems  ludicrous  that  I  once  intended  to 
be  a  clergyman.  My  father's  wish  was  never  formally 
given  up,  but  died  a  natural  death  when,  on  leaving 
Cambridge,  I  joined  the  ship  Beagle  as  naturalist. 
While  on  board  the  Beagle  I  was  quite  orthodox,  and 
I  remember  being  heartily  langhed  at  by  several  of 
the  officers  (though  themselves  orthodox)  for  quoting 
the  Bible  as  an  unanswerable  authority  on  some  point 
of  morality.  But  I  had  gradually  come  by  this  time — 
1836  to  1839 — to  see  that  the  Old  Testament  was  no 
more  to  be  trusted  than  the  sacred  book  of  the  Hin- 
doos. By  further  reflecting  that  the  clearest  evidence 
would  be  requisite  to  make  any  sane  man  believe  in  the 
miracles  by  which  Christianity  is  supported,  and  that 
the  more  we  know  of  the  fixed  laws  of  nature  the  more 
incredible    do    miracles    become,    I   gradually   came    to 


—  56  — 

disbelieve  in  Chrisfcianity  as  a  divine  revelation.  Thus 
disbelief  crept  over  me  at  a  very  slow  rate,  but  was  at) 
last  coniplf^te. 

••  Formerly  I  was  led  by  feelings  to  the  firm  convic- 
tion of  the  existence  of  God  and  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  I  well  remember  the  conviction  that  there 
was  more  in  man  than  the  mere  breath  of  his  body.  But 
now  the  grandest  scenes  of  nature  could  not  cause  any 
such  convictions  and  feelings  to  rise  in  my  mind. 

"In  my  extreme  fluctuations  I  have  never  been  an 
atheist  in  the  sense  of  denying  the  existence  of  a  God. 
I  think  that  generally  (and  more  and  more  as  I  grow 
older)  but  not  always,  that  an  Agnostic  would  be  the 
more  correct  description  of  my  state  of  mind." 

Here,  friends,  is  the  chief  of  evolution,  a  theory  that 
teaches  all  things  progress  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  state, 
that  nature  has  gone  on  from  the  first  few  simple  forms 
called  into  life  by  the  Creator  to  highly  developed  and 
intelligent  man,  and  this  chief  of  evolution,  in  his  own 
autobiography,  shows  how  he  went  from  a  firm  belief  in 
God  and  the  strict  and  literal  truth  of  every  word  of  the 
Bible  to  the  belief  that  the  Old  Testament  was  no  more 
to  be  trusted  than  the  sacred  book  of  the  Hindoos,  and 
then  gradually  to  disbelief  in  Christianity  as  a  divine 
revelation,  and  finally,  by  his  own  confession,  ended  as 
an  agnostic !  Is  not  this  evolution  turned  backward  ? 
Was  not  Darwin  himself  a  conspicuous  example  of  the 
falsity  of  his  own  theory?  Bid  the  teaching  of  God 
ever  lead  a  man  to  disbelieve  the  Bible  and  Christianity 
and  ^.0  finally  become  an  agnostic?  If  not.  then  Charles 
Darwin  was  led  by  this  ignis  fatuus  "evolution"  from 
the  firm  solid  rock  of  ages,  out  upon  the  uncertain 
teacherous  quicksands  of  doubt  and  unbelief.  And  Prof. 
Stearns,  by  receiving  this  evolution  as  "a  law,"  "the 
method,"  and  this  "  wonderful  hypothesis,"  as  ''a  friend 
and   not  an  enemy,"  has  sworn  to  a  league   with  these 


—  57   — 

modern  Gibeonites  that  must  as  inevitably  lead  astray 
the  young  students  of  to-day  as  did  the  (gibeonites  of 
Canaan  by  enticing  the  Israelites  to  follow  their  strange 
gods,  allure  them  to  certain  destruction. 

Christ  says :  "  A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit ,  a  good 
tree  cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt 
tree  bring  forth  good  fruit.  By  their  fruit  ye  shall  know 
them."  Tested  by  this  standard  what  has  evolution 
brought  forth  in  the  lives  of  its  ablest  champions  ? 
Agnosticism.  What  did  it  make  of  Charles  Darwin,  who 
spent  a  lifetime  in  its  service  ?  Listen  to  his  startling 
confession,  about  three  years  before  his  death,  in  answer 
to  a  German  student,  to  whom  he  wrote  : — 

"  I  am  very  busy  and  an  old  man  in  delicate 
health,  and  have  not  time  to  answer  your  questions  fully, 
even  assuming  that  they  are  capable  of  being  answered 
at  all.  Science  and  Christ  have  nothing  to  do  with  each 
other,  except  in  so  far  as  the  habit  of  a  scientific  investi- 
gation makes  a  man  cautious  about  accepting  any  proofs. 
As  far  as  1  am  concerned,  I  do  not  believe  that  any 
revelation  has  been  made.  With  regard  to  a  future  life, 
every  one  must  draw  his  ow^n  conclusions  from  vague  and 
contradictory  probabilities." 

Contrast  this  uncertainty  of  mind  with  the  con- 
fident assurance  of  another  man  at  the  end  of  life,  the 
apostle  Paul.  Writing  to  the  young  evangelist  Timothj', 
he  says:  "I  am  now^  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time 
of  my  departure  is  at  hand  I  have  fought  a  good  fight, 
I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith;  hence- 
forth there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at 
that  day;  and  not  to  me  only  (there  wasn't  a  selfish 
fibre  in  Paul's  make-up),  but  unto  all  those  who  love 
His  appearing." 

Friends,  at  the  end  of  life,  would  you  not  rather  have 
the  confident  assurance  that  Paul  felt  than  the  confessed 


—  58  — 

uncertainty  of  Charles  Dar^Yin  ?  If  so,  then  worship  not 
at  the  shrine  of  e^o!lltion  where  Charles  Dar\vin  sits  as 
high  priest,  but  believe  and  serve  the  onl}'  true  God  and 
His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  whom  He  has  sent,  by  whom  Paul 
was  commissioned  a  minister  and  a  witness  unto  the 
Gentiles  (of  whom  you  and  I  are  members),  to  open  their 
eyes,  to  turn  them  darkness  unto  light  and  from  the 
power  of  Satan  uuto  God. 


—  59  — 

CHAPTER   VI. 
The  Gentiles  also  may  be  saved. 

For  when  the  Gentiles,  whicli  have  not  the  law,  do  by  nature  the 
things  contained  in  the  law,  these,  iiaviug  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto 
themselves,  which  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  th.eir  hearts, 
their  conscietice  also  bearing  witness  and  their  thon<^hts  the  meanwhile 
accusing  or  else  excusing  one  another." — Rom.  ii.  14,  15. 

I  may  say,  by  way  of  preface,  that  this  text  does 
away  with  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity,  for  it  is  evident 
that  the  Gentiles  could  not  have  done  by  nature  the 
things  contained  in  the  law,  if  that  nature  had  been 
totally  depraved. 

There  was  a  Gentile  world  and  a  Jewish  world. 
Unto  the  Je\vs  were  committed  the  oracles  of  God  (Rom. 
iii.  2),  to  whom  pertained  the  giving  of  the  law  (Rom. 
ix.  4),  which  law,  says  Paul,  was  the  school-master  to 
bring  them  unto  Christ  (Gal.  iii.  24).  The  Gentiles, 
though  they  have  not  this  law,  yet  can  do  by  nature  the 
things  contained  therein  and  be  justified;  for  God  is 
long-suffering,  merciful  and  willeth  not  that  any  should 
perish,  but  that  the  wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live. 

Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  Naaman  the  Syrian, 
who  learned  of  God  through  the  little  captive  Jewish 
maid  and  afterwards  worshipped  the  true  God.  Or, 
perhaps,  a  more  striking  case  is  that  of 

NEBUCHADNEZZAa 

He  was  the  son  of  the  founder  of  the  Babylonian 
empire,  and  reigned  from  604  to  561  B.  C.  Among  his 
first  acts  at  home  was  the  rebuilding  of  the  great  temple 
with  the  golden  image  of  Bel.  This  Bel  is  identical  with 
Baal,  the  supreme  male  divinity  of  the  Phoenicians  and 
Canaauitish  nations.  Its  worship  was  performed  by  the 
burning  of  incense  (Jer.  vii.  9)  and  the  offering  of  burnt 


60  — 


sacrifices,  which  occasionally  consisted  of  human  victims 
(Jer.  xix.  5).  Tiie  officiating  priests  danced  with  frantic 
shouts  around  the  altar  and  cut  themselves  with  knives 
to  excite  the  attention  and  compassion  of  the  god  (I  K. 
xviii.  26-8). 

Nebo  was  Nebuchadnezzar's  tutelar  god,  a  prominent 
deity  from  an  early  tiuie.  When  the  king  of  Assyria 
placed  men  of  different  nations  in  Samaria  (II  K.  xvii. 
29),  every  nation  made  gods  of  their  own,  and  the  men 
of  Babylon  made  small  tabernacles,  in  which  were  con- 
tained images  of  female  deities,,  whose  worship  led  to 
unmentionable  practices.  Certain  it  is  that  Babylon 
became  known  as  the  land  of  graven  images  and  mad 
with  her  idols  (Jer.  1.  88);  the  mother  of  harlots  and 
abominations  of  the  earth  (Rev.  xvii.  5). 

Such  was  its  religious  condition  when  Nebuchad- 
nezzar first  took  Jerusalem,  605  B.  C,  and  carried  the 
Jews  thither,  among  whom  was  Daniel.  The  king  was 
greatly  troubled  about  a  dream,  and  called  for  the  wise 
magicians,  astrologers,  sorcerers,  and  Chaldeans  to  in- 
terpret it.  Notwithstanding  all  their  extravagant 
pretensions,  they  impotentlj^  feigned  reply.  Not  so  with 
Daniel,  who  boldly  faced  the  king  and  said:  "There  is 
a  God  in  heaven  who  reveal eth  secrets.  He  hath  made 
known  to  thee  what  shall  come  to  pass  hereafter.  Thou 
art  a  king  of  kings,  for  the  God  of  heaven  hath  given 
thee  a  kngdom,  power  and  strength  and  glory."  When 
the  interpretation  was  finisl\ed,  the  king,  with  true 
oriental  politeness  and  heathen  ceremony,  fell  down  and 
worshipped  Daniel  and  said :  "  Of  a  truth  it  is  that  your 
God  is  a  God  of  gods  and  a  Lord  of  kings,  and  a  revealer 
of  Secrets,  seeing  tho  ■•  canldst  reveal  this  secret." 

But  the  words  of  the  king  were  as  sounding  brass 
and  a  tinkling  cymbal.  Not  long  afterwards  he  had 
made  a  golden  image  of  colossal  size,  which  he  set  up  on 
the  plain   of  Dura  and  commanded  that  "  whoso  falleth 


—  61  — 

not  down  and  worshippeth  it,  shall  be  cast  into  a  burning 
fiery  furnace."  But  when  he  saw  that  the  three  Hebrew 
children  cast  therein  were  unharmed  by  the  fire,  he  went 
so  far  as  to  praise  their  God,  who  had  sent  His  angel  to 
deliver  them,  and  made  a  decree  that  there  is  no  other 
God  that  can  deliver  after  this  sort. 

Ten  years  more  passed,  and  Daniel  again  interpreted 
the  king's  dream,  which  the  Chaldean  soothsayers  were 
unable  to  do,  in  which  Nebuchadnezzar  was  warned  that 
his  reason  should  depart  and  he  should  be  driven  from 
among  men  to  herd  with  the  beasts  of  the  field  till 
"seven  times"  had  passed  over  his  head.  The  judgment 
came  upon  him  at  the  expiration  of  a  year.  His  enemies 
had  been  subdued  on  every  side,  his  great  works  of  art 
and  power  had  been  completed,  and  as  he  survej^-d  them 
from  the  roof  of  his  palace,  he  forgot  God,  of  whose  might 
he  had  had  such  proofs,  and  exclaimed:  "Js  not  this 
great  Babylon  that  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  king- 
dom by  the  might  of  my  power  and  for  the  honor  of  my 
majesty?"  The  words  had  scarcely  mounted  toward 
the  vault  of  heaven,  when  a  voice  replied,  "  O  king 
Nebuchadnezzar,  to  thee  it  is  spoken;  the  kini:;TJom  is 
departed  from  thee."  The  details  of  his  exile  were  given, 
and  a  space  of  seven  years  marked  their  fulfillment. 

"Then,"  says  the  king  in  a  decree  to  "  all  people  and 
nations  and  languages  that  dwell  on  all  the  earth : "  *  My 
understanding  returned,  and  I  blessed  the  Most  High 
and  1  praised  and  honored  Him  that  liveth  forever,  whose 
dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion  and  his  kingdom  is 
from  generation  to  generation.  All  His  works  are  truth 
and  JBis  ways  judgment,  and  those  that  walk  in  pride 
He  is  able  to  abase.  I  thought  it  good  to  show  the  signs 
and  wonders  that  the  high  God  hath  wrought  toward  me." 

Thus,  at  length,  he  had  learned  to  bow  in  submission 
to  the  true  God  Jehovah,  and  the  appointed  teacher  was 
Daniel. 


—  62  — 

God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  therefore  the 
doer  of  the  hiw,  whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  is  justified. 
The  Gentiles  who  thus  do  the  things  contained  in  the 
law  are  likened  unto  brant;hes  cut  out  of  the  olive  tree, 
which  is  wild  by  nature,  and  graft  into  a  good  olive  tree. 
The  Jews  who  keep  the  law  by  commandment  are  likened 
unto  the  natural  branches  of  the  good  tree.  Since  the 
Gentiles  did  not  have  the  law  by  commandment,  they 
must  of  necessity  do  by  nature  its  requirements  to 
obtain  justification.  Wherefore  Paul  asks:  "Shall  not 
uncircumcision,  which  is  by  nature,  if  it  fulfill  the  law, 
judge  thee,  who  by  the  letter  and  circumcision  dost 
transgress  the  law  ?  " 

The  Jews  are  the  natural  branches  selected  in  faith- 
ful Abraham.  The  Gentiles,  though  the  wild  branches, 
are  yet  capable  of  receiving  and  assimilating  the  nourish- 
ment from  the  good  olive  tree.  The  Jews  are  God's  chosen 
people;  but  the  Gentiles  are  also  created  in  God's  image, 
and  therefore  capai  le  of  hearing  the  law,  and  by  nature 
doing  it.  When  graft  into  the  good  olive  tree  they  receive 
the  same  kind  of  nutriment  as  the  natural  branches,  and 
their  growth  gives  evidence  of  being  supplied  from  the 
same  life  fountain. 

The  same  God  over  all  is  rich  toward  all  that  call 
upon  His  name.  The  Gentiles  wdio  do  the  law  show 
that  they  have  received  the  knowledge  thereof  into  their 
hearts;  their  conduct  and  actions  bearing  witness  to  such 
a  law-enlightened  conscience,  while  their  thoughts,  ex- 
pressed or  unexpressed,  show  that  they  have  learned  to 
distinguish  what  is  and  what  is  not  according  to  God's 
law,  the  conscience  accusing,  or  excusing,  as  the  case 
may  be. 

But  who  are  Gentiles  ?  I  have  selected  this  subject 
for  unfoldment  to-day,  because  I  feel  that  we  ourselves 
are  on  the  side  of  those  most  deeply  concerned.  We  are 
Gentiles,  as  well    as   the   Chinese,   for   example.      Our 


—  63  — 

justification,  as  well  as  theirs,  lies  in  cluing  the  law  [will] 
of  God.  The  only  reason  we  are  the  yireachers  and  they 
are  the  hearers  in  China  to-dn}-.  is  that,  in  God's  provid- 
ence, the  Gospel  came  to  ns  hrst.  Not  many  centuries 
ago  our  foiefathers  were  more  uncivilized  tlian  the 
Chinese.  They  wore  skins  when  the  Chinese  wore  silks. 
They  roamed  the  forests  of  Germany  and  Britain,  worship- 
ping the  god  Thor,  sacred  trees  and  fairy  sprites.  Paul 
brought  the  Gospel  to  Europe,  the  Puritans  to  America, 
Carey  to  India;  and  later  missionaries  to  Africa,  Japan, 
China  and  the  islands  of  the  sea.  IS^ot  by  works  of 
righteousness  that  we  have  done,  but  by  his  mercy  we 
are  being  saved.  It  is  the  gift  of  God.  Let  us  praise 
Him  for  his  wonderful  goodness  to  the  children  of  men. 

*'  Let  U3  tell  it  out  among  the  iiatioua 
Tliat  the  Lord  is  king  ; 
Tell  it  out  among  the  heatlien, 
Bid  them  break  their  cliains  ; 
Tell  it  out  amoug  the  people, 
That  the  Savior  reigns." 

We  notice,  next,  that  the  justified  Gentiles  do  the 
things  contained  in  the  law.  We  know  that  this  is  the 
law  given  by  God  through  Moses  to  the  people  of  Israel. 
It  is  a  certain  definite  number  of  commandments,  well- 
known,  and  so  plain  that  a  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool, 
need  not  err  therein.  There  are  some  things  Avhich  this 
law  is  NOT — 

1.  It  is  NOT  some  uncertain,  indefinite  something 
man  may  find  out  from  the  dim  light  of  nature.  For 
that  would  be  as  variable  as  the  number  of  men  who 
claimed  to  be  able  to  read  nature's  dim  pages.  One  man 
saj^s  nature  tenches  him  to  do  this,  and  another  says 
nature  teaches  him  to  do  that.  But  when  Paul  speaks  of 
the  Gentiles  doing  the  things  contained  in  the  law,  there 
is  no  uncertainty  as  to  what  is  meant,  no  option  of  two  or 
more  things  he  may  do.  but  only  the  one  LAwful  thing 
to  do,  to  become  justified  before  God. 


—  64,  — 

Neither  is  it  doing  the  things  man's  own  reason 
evolves,  for  here  again  we  have  one  man  arrayed  against 
another,  and  no  two  exactly  agreeing.  Canst  thou  by 
searching  find  out  God?  How  unsearchable  are  His 
judgments  and  His  ways  past  finding  out.  Seeing  a 
flaming  bush  and  reading  a  poem  therefrom  is  one  thing. 
It  is  an  entirely  different  thing  to  hear  words  from  out 
the  midst  of  that  same  bush  that  never  man  spake. 

I  once  supposed,  froui  hearing  this  text  expounded, 
that  it  referred  alone  to  the  poor  heathen,  in  our  case, 
the  '"'heathen  Chinee,' just  struggling  up  through  sweet 
communion  with  nature  and  loyal  allegiance  to  his  idol 
into  the  radiant  light  of  God's  presence.  1  was  taught  that 
this  poor  man  was  thus  showing  his  love  for  God  in  the 
only  way  he  knew  how,  and  that  that  is  all  God  asks. 
In  other  words,  that  nature's  God  was  doing  his  best  to 
teach  him,  and  that  he  was  doing  his  best,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  understand. 

But  God  is  a  perfect  teacher;  man  is  imperfect. 
We  have  been  taught  from  the  pages  of  holy  writ  by 
man  :  they  are  said  to  be  taught  from  nature's  pages 
direct  by  God.  Ought  thev  not  therefore  to  recognize 
and  know  God  better  than  those  who  come  to  instruct 
them  ?  But  what  is  the  fact  ?  What  missionary  ever  yet 
met  one  of  these  so-called  God-through-nature-taught- 
men  on  any  mission  field,  who.  on  hearing  of  God  as 
revealed  by  His  Son.  had  a  clearer  idea  of  God  than  the 
missionary  who  taught  him  ?  Dr.  Griffith  John,  over 
fifty  years  a  missionary  in  China,  affirms  that  he  has 
never  met  a  heathen  who  knew  the  true  God.  nor  one 
that  was  seeking  or  feeling  after  the  true  God.  The 
Go-pel  not  only  did  not  find,  but  had  to  create  a  desire 
for  the  truth. 

A  lady  missionary  once  said  to  me  in  discussing  this 
subject,  that  she  believed  if  a  man  in  the  heart  of  Thibet 
was   sincerely   worshipping    God    through    his    idols,    he 


—  65  — 

would  be  all  right.  But  it  puzzles  me  to  know  how  he 
can  worship  God  at  all  through  an  idol.  So  far  from 
doinor  the  thinofs  containad  in  the  law,  he  seems  to  me 
to  be  doing  the  very  things  prohibited  by  that  law,  viz., 
"  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me.  Thou  shalt 
not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image,  or  any  likeness  of 
anything  that  is  in  the  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the 
earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth. 
Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them." 
Tylor  relates  that  certain  African  savages  were  asked  how 
their  divinities  could  partake  of  their  offerings,  since  the 
meats  which  they  had  set  forth  for  them  at  night  were 
found  unconsumed  in  the  morning.  They  replied  that  the 
spirits  licked  them  with  their  tongues.  Now  Paul  says 
that  the  things  the  Gentiles  sacrilice,  they  sacrifice  to 
devils  and  not  to  God.  And  from  my  seven  years' 
observation  in  that  land  of  idol  worship — '(Jhina — I  must 
agree  with  Paul ;  for  I  have  found  it  more  a  servile  fear  of 
offending  demons  and  a  cringeing  supplication  to  obtain 
their  favor  than  the  outpouring  of  hearts  overflowing 
with  love  to  God. 

Some  say  that  those  who  are  devoutly  worshipping, 
no  matter  what,  are  really  worshipping  God  according  to 
the  best  light  they  have  ;  that  God  has  given  them  a 
religious  instinct  and  will  not  punish  them  for  carrying 
out  the  longing  He  Himself  has  planted  in  the  human 
heart ;  that  they  are  feeling  after  God,  if  haply  they  may 
find  him.  Now  the  best  answer  to  all  this  sort  of  soft 
doctrine  is  to  say  that  it  isn't  so.  It  is  a  slander  on  the 
character  of  God  as  revealed  to  us  in  His  holy  Word,  to 
say  that  He  has  ever  taught  or  ever  implanted  in  man's 
heart  the  desire  to  worship  Him  through  idols.  God 
tempteth  no  man,  but  every  man  is  tempted  when  he  is 
drawn  away  of  his  own  lust  and  enticed — James  i.  13,  14. 

Dr.  Samuel  Harris,  in  his  book  on  natural  theology, 
"The  Self  Revelation  of  God/'  says:   "The  lowest  savage 


—  66  — 

lives  in  the  presence  and  anaid  the  activities  of  the  every- 
where energizing  God.  it  was  the  true  God  who  was 
always  revealing  Himself,  and  so  we  may  properly  say  it 
is  He  who  by  His  touch  awakens  the  slumbering  spirit 
to  consciousness  and  knowledge,  as  a  mother  by  her 
loving  touch  awakens  her  sleeping  child."  These  are,  alas  ! 
very  smooth  words,  but  we  are  told  to  beware,  lest  any  man 
spoil  you  with  philosophy  and  vain  deceit.  I  heard  a  dis- 
course one  Lord's  Day  evening,  presenting  that  beautiful 
scene  of  the  angel  touching  Elijah  under  the  juniper  tree 
and  awaking  him  to  the  realization  that  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel  liveth,  before  whom  He  s;ood.  But  whose  touch 
awakens  a  man  to  sincere  devotion  to  an  idol  ?  I  cannot 
believe  that  it  is  God's  touch,  or  the  touch  of  God's  angel. 
Fellow  Christians,  I  do  not  know  what  you  may 
think  on  this  subject,  nor  do  I  speak  for  you,  but  as  for 
me,  I  do  not  believe  that  Go  1  ever  yet  taught  a  human 
being,  through  nature  or  otherwise,  to  worship  an  idol. 
"  It  was  the  greatest  honor  God  did  to  man  to  make  him 
in  the  image  of  God,  but  it  is  the  greatest  dishonor  man 
has  done  to  God  that  he  has  made  God  in  the  image  of 
man." — Matthew  Henry.  If  two-thirds  of  the  world  are 
to-day  bowling  down  to  wood  and  stone,  the  fault  must 
be  man's,  not  God's.  I  for  one  cannot  charge  it  against 
God.  I  believe  with  Paul  that  there  was  a  time  when 
they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  and 
God  gave  them  over  to  do  those  things  which  are  not 
convenient.  I  believe  with  Ecclesiastes,  that  God  made 
man  upright,  but  he  has  sought  out  many  inventions. 
God  seut  not  His  Son  to  condemn  the  world  ;  it  was 
condemned  already.  Men  had  rebelled,  had  sinned,  had 
apostatized.  For  when  they  knew  God  they  worshipped 
Hiui  not  as  God,  but  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a 
lie  and  worshipped  and  served  the  creature  more  than 
the  Creator.  Wherefore  God  gave  them  up  unto  un- 
cleanness  through  the  lusts  of  their  own  hearts. 


—  67  — 

i 
I  heard  anotlier  lady  missionary  say  that  tliose  who 

are  the  most  devoted  idol  worshippers  become  the  most 
siijcere  worshippers  of  God.  Ou  the  coutrary,  I  found 
it  true  that  peo[)le  become  more  and  more  like  the  object 
or  being  that  they  worshi[).  Little  wonder,  then,  that  the 
Chinese  must  continue  to  live  ia  mud-and-straw-made 
houses  so  long  as  they  continue  to  worship  mud-and- 
straw-made  gods. 

To  say  that  the  heathen  worship  God  in  their 
weak  way  through  the  idols  as  symbols,  is  to  charge 
them  with  knowing  the  true  God  but  willfully  choosing 
to  worship  through  the  false  one.  It  seems  more  plau- 
sible that  they  worship  their  idols  in  utter  ignorance  of 
anything  else  to  worship  ;  for  when  missionaries  tell 
them  of  the  true  God,  it  is  a  revelation  to  them. 

The  times  of  this  ignorance  God  overlooked,  but 
now  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  repent.  And 
Peter  sn,ys  that  the  long-suffering  of  our  Lord  is  salva- 
tion. For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only 
Son  to  save  it,  and  His  Sou  sent  forth  His  disciples 
sayiui^ :  "As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  so  send  I  you.  Go 
ye  into  all  the  w^orld  and  preach  the  Gos[)el  to  every 
creature."  And  one  of  these  disciples,  Paul,  writes  unto 
Timothy  :  "The  things  which  thou  hast  heard  of  me, 
the  same  commit  thou  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  be 
able  to  teach  others  also."  God's  plan  for  getting  the 
knowledge  to  them  is  certain  and  definite  ;  in  times 
past  by  the  prophets,  in  these  last  days  by  and  through 
His  Sou. 

2.  The  second  it  is  not.  Doing  the  things  contained 
in  the  law  is  not  doing  the  things  contained  in  Taoism, 
Buddhism  or  Confucianism.  These  isms  may  have 
empty  word-fragments  of  the  law  clinging  to  them  from 
the  remote  ages,  but  it  is  the  doing  of  the  law  God- 
given,  and  not  mau-perverted,  that  will  make  men  just 
before  God. 


—  68  — 

There  is  danger,  dear  friends,  that  China,  the  hmd 
to  which  we  liave  consecrated  our  lives,  may  soon  have 
to  pass  through  the  same  mist  of  agnosticism,  rational- 
ism, and  science  falsely  so-called  as  did  Japnn  a  few  years 
ago.  Already  some  ])rominent  leaders,  like  the  Pharisees 
of  old,  are  teaching  for  doctrines  of  God  the  command- 
ments of  men.  In  a  ])amphlet  entitled  "How  to  make 
a  Million  Converts,"  the  General  Secretary  of  the  Society 
for  the  Diffusion  of  Christian  and  General  Knowledge 
says:  "To  make  it  evident  to  the  Chinese  that  our 
ideal  is  from  God,  it  is  necessary  (1)  to  stndy  the  hest 
religions  books  the  Chinese  have,  snch  as  the  Confucian, 
Buddhist  and  Taoist  classics,  the  modern  Chinese 
religions  books,  e.  g.,  King  Shin  Lnh,  Mien  Kie  Lnh,  etc. 
(2)  After  the  stndy  of  these  sacred  hooks,  recoustrnct 
your  own  theology  direct  from  the  Bible."  He  theu 
recommends  the  study  of  comparative  religion  from  snch 
books  as  Freeman  Clarke's  Ten  Great  RehVious.  And 
Clarke  says:  '*  As  all  living  in  heathen  lands  are 
heathen,  if  they  find  God  at  all,  they  must  find  Him 
through  heathenism.  God  has  caused  some  to  be  boru 
in  China,  where  they  can  know  Him  only  through 
Buddha  and  Confucius."  May  I  ask,  in  passing,  did  the 
150,000  Chinese  Christians  now  rejoicing  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  find  Him  throuirh  heathenism  ?  Perhaps 
with  some  men  this  is  impossible  to  be  understood  other- 
wise, but  with  God  all  things  are  possible.  Paul 
declared  that  if  a  man  preach  any  other  Gospel  than 
that  he  had  preached  unto  them,  let  him  be  accursed. 
And  there  are  those  of  us  who  believe  that  what  the 
Chinese  want  is  more  of  C'hrist  and  less  of  Buddha; 
more  of  Christ's  Gospel  and  less  of  Confucian  ethics; 
more  of  God's  revealed  woi'd  and  less  of  agnostic 
rationalism. 

There  was  a  tract  printed  for  the  Chinese  in  1896 
entitled  "  Christianity  the  Completion  of  Confucianism," 


—  69  — 

in  which  it  was  asserted  that  Christianity  necessarily 
wishes  to  com[)lete  Confucianism,  to  preserve  its  good 
doctrines,  to  correct  its  njistakes,  and  to  supplement  its 
insufficiencies.  The  writei-  infers  this  from  Christ's 
saying  that  He  came  not  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill  the  law. 
"  Christ  wished  to  make  [)erfect  the  old  religion  of  His 
native  land;  that  is,  to  preserve  all  the  good  doctrines, 
correct  all  the  mistakes,  and  supplement  all  the  in- 
sufficiencies.'^ Now  we  know  that  the  law  of  the  Jews 
was  all  right  ;  it  was  the  traditions  of  men  that  Jesus 
denounced.  True,  Christ  came  not  to  destroy  hut  to 
fulfill  the  law,  but  the  law  Christ  came  to  fulfill  was 
the  law  of  God,  and  not  the  law  laid  down  by  Confucius, 
Buddha,  Laotsz,  Darwin,  Haeckel,  Huxley  or  Spencer. 
(Jhrist  came  to  ring  out  the  false,  to  ring  in  the  true. 
Christ  came  to  show  us  the  way  back  to  the  Father. 
"  No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  Me,''  says 
Jesus.  Christ  is  the  door  to  the  slieepfold.  He  that 
eutereth  not  in  by  the  door,  but  climbeth  up  some  other 
way  (by  way  of  Confucianism,  for  example),  the  same  is 
a  thief  and  a  robber. 

The  author  of  the  above-named  tract  again  says  : 
"Before  Jesus  there  were  in  Judea  the  proi)hets  ;  China 
had  Confucius,  who  corres[)onded  to  the  prophets  ol  that 
time,  who  (preparing)  prophesied  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
world's  salvation."  Thus,  with  Freenian  Clarke  and 
others,  he  teaches  that  Confucianism  was  a  preparation 
for  Christianity.  But  let  us  ask,  Whose  preparation  ? 
Who  was  preparing  the  way  for  (;hristianity  through 
Confucius?  Was  God?  No,  for  the  man  sent  by  God 
was  named  John,  while  Confucius  himself  testifies  :  "I 
am  a  transmitter  and  not  a  maker,  believing  in  and 
loving:  the  ancients."  It  might  as  well  be  said  that 
Buddhism  in  India  was  a  preparation  for  Christianity, 
simply  because  Buddhism  is  there.  What  else  could 
Buddhists  know  than  Buddhism  when  Christianity  found 


—  70  -^ 

them  ?  What  else  could  a  Chinese  scholar  know  than 
Confiiciauism  wlien  Christ's  amhassadors  ctatne  to  (yhiua? 
And  sirn{)]y  because  he  luippened  to  know  tlie  doctrines 
of  Coufucias  instead  of  Buddlur,  the}^  say  Coufucianisni 
was  a  preparation  for  Christianity  and  for  no  other 
rensou.  For  had  he  lived  in  India,  he  would  know 
nothing  of  Confucianism,  and  then  these  same  writers 
would  no  doubt  tell  us  that  Buddhism  was  his  pre{)ara- 
tiou  for  Christianity.  A  very  elastic  philosophy  this  I 
He  could  come  out  of  nothing  else,  hence  the  irresistible 
logic  that  what  he  did  come  out  of  was  a  preparation 
for  Christianity.  But  Christ  calls  men  out  of  darkness 
into  His  marvellous  light.  Now  this  course  through 
darkness  is  whose  preparation  ?  Paul  answers,  Satan's, 
plainly  testifying  that  Jesus  sent  him  unto  the  Gentiles 
to  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light  and  from  the  power 
of  Satan  unto  God. 

The  author  of  Ten  Great  Religions  says  that  Con- 
fucius was  the  schoolmaster  to  bring  his  people  to 
Glirist.  My  friends,  let  us  not  be  deceived  here  either. 
Christ  says  :  "Every  man  that  hath  learned  of  the  Father, 
cometh  to  me."  Confucius  was  undoubtedly  the  great 
teacher  of  the  Chinese;  but  we  are  plainly  told  by  Paul 
that  the  law  was  the  schoolmaster  to  bring  us  to  Christ. 
And  what  law  ?  The  law  given  by  God  to  Moses. 
There  is  no  dodging  here.  It  was  not  the  law  given  by 
Confucius  or  Socrates  or  Cicero.  According  to  these 
writers  who  would  laud  the  good  old  Confucianism  and 
denounce  the  present-day  savorless  kind,  Confucius  came 
l)etore  Christ;  so  did  Homer,  so  did  Plato.  All  these, 
then,  are  thieves  and  robbers,  if  they  claim  to  be  "  the 
door  of  the  sheepfold  " — the  door  by  which  the  people 
should  enter  into  Christianity.  But  pause  a  moment. 
I  do  not  desire  to  slander  these  men  in  that  way.  They 
themselves  never  claimed  to  be  "  prophets  preparing 
the  doctrine  of  the  world's  salvation."     As  an  impartial 


—  71  — 

historian,  let  ns  record  Coufiicins  with  that  worldly 
res{)ect  and  honor  due  to  him.  Bat  what  mast  we  sav 
of  his  present-day  rationalistic  adiuirei\s,  who  would  so 
pervert  the  rec(jrd  as  to  mal%;e  Confucius  appear  inspired 
and  sent  of  God,  as  were  Isaiah  and  Moses.  We  are  not 
greatly  surprised,  then,  when  we  read  of  them  joining  in 
singing  the  Chinese  doxolo^y,  as  did  Dr.  Legge  hetore 
the  tablet  of  heaven  in  the  Emperor's  Peking  temple: 

*•  Confucius,  Confucius,  how  great  is  Confucius  ! 
Before  hiui,  never  was  such  an  one, 
After  him,  never  such  another, 
Confucius,  Confucius,  how  great  is  Confucius  !  " 

Again,  these  writers  say  that,  as  God  through  Con- 
fucius was  speaking  to  the  (Chinese  millions,  so  God 
through  Buddha  was  giving  the  people  of  India  that 
"light  ot  Asia^'  that  has  ke[)t  them  through  all  the 
centuries.  Here,  again,  they  would  slander  God  by 
making  Hiin  the  author  of  all  manner  of  i)hilosophies 
and  systems  of  religion.  Is  God  the  author  of  confusion  ? 
All  these  religions  teach  contrary  to  the  very  first  and 
second  commandments  of  God.  Confucius  taught  au^l 
])racticed  the  worship  of  the  spirits  of  heaven  and  earth 
and  of  men.  Buddhism  has  gone  mad  upon  its  idols. 
Did  God  teach  them  this?  Did  God  give  commandment 
to  worship  no  one  but  Himself  and  then  inspire  them 
to  teach  the  contrary  ?  No,  they  have  changed  the 
truth  of  God  into  a  lie.  But  God  is  long-sufierin<»-, 
merciful  and  willeth  not  that  any  should  perish.  For 
when  the  world  by  its  wisdom  knew  not  God,  it  pleased 
God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  those  who 
believe. 

The  President  of  St.  John's  College,  American 
E[)iscopal,  says  editorially  in  his  college  paper:  "We 
believe  that  all  men,  after  all,  are  worshi{)ping  the  one 
God.  Their  ideas  of  that  God  and  their  names  for  Him 
may  be  different,  but  still  they  are  trying  to  reverence  the 


—  72  — 

best  that  they  know.  .  .  .  l^nt  the  Christian  student 
cannot  participate  in  the  nou-Christiau  worship  of  Cou- 
fiiciiis/'  Bat  why  not,  we  a,sk,  if  after  all,  all  men  are 
worship{)iiiir  the  one  God?  The  firsr,  sentence  was  given 
as  the  reason  why  all  students  should  attend  his  religions 
services,  while  the  second  sentence,  bnt  a  few  para- 
gr.-iplis  farther  on,  was  given  with  this  explanation  : 
"If  he  does  so  (worshi[)s  Confncins'  tablet),  it  means 
that,  he  consents  to  the  raisinsr  of  a  man  to  a  position 
which  amounts  to  idolatry.  The  honors  offered  to  Con- 
fucius may  be  compared  to  those  offered  to  the  ancient 
Roman  Emperors.  For  a  Christian  to  attend  and  say 
that  all  it  meant  was  n:)erely  showing  respect  to  the 
memory  of  a  very  good  man  would  be  a  very  dangerous 
trifling  with  conscience." — St.  John's  Echo,  Shanghai, 
October,  1902. 

Here,  then,  are  some  Confucianists  of  this  college 
president's  "all  men"  who  are  not  worshipping  the  one 
God,  but  are  worshipping  a  man  instead,  in  such  a  way 
that  it  amounts  to  idolatry;  and  this  the  [)resideiit  con- 
demns as  a  very  dangerous  trifling  with  conscience. 
Tliis  is  a  rationalistic  higher  critic  against  himself,  sure 
enough,  and  exemplifies  the  trite  saying  :  Give  ;i  false 
theory  rope  enough  and  it  will  hauir  itself.  In  an 
oj)ening  sentence  he  declares  that  all  men  after  all 
worship)  the  one  God,  and  before  he  closes  his  editorial 
declares  that  some  men,  after  all,  worship  the  man  Con- 
fucius as  a  god ! 

If  the  Confucianist  only  needs  to  study  the  supple- 
ment called  the  Gospel  to  finish  his  religious  education, 
would  it  not  be  an  insult  to  him  to  call  upon  him  to 
repent?  Suppose  he  should  reply:  What  should  I 
repent  of?  You  say  Confucianism  is  all  right  so  far  as 
it  goes;  that  I  only  need  Christ's  teachings  to  complete 
what  Confucius  has  so  well  begun  in  me.  Your  tracts 
prove  that  Confucius  taught  the  knowledge  of  the  true 


—  73  — 

God,  and  I  have  beeu  following  Confncins  devotedly. 
Where  is  my  error,  of  wliich  I  must  repent?  And  wiiy 
exhort  me  to  tnrn  to  God?  According  to  your  own 
writings,  I  have  beeu  turned  toward  the  true  God  all 
the  tiine. 

I  once  asked  a  veteran  missionary,  Have  yon  ever 
met  a  man  in  an  unevangelized  region,  whether  official, 
elder  or  one  of  the  common  people,  unto  whom  you  did 
not  feel  it  your  bounden  duty  to  preach  God,  Christ  and 
repentance  unto  salvation  ?  And  he  said,  No.  Of  what 
use  is  it  then  to  scatter  broadcast  tracts  teaching  that 
the  Confucianist  is  all  right  so  far  as  he  has  goue,  when 
you  uiust  needs  fjllow  up  sucii  publications  by  personal 
solicitation  for  him  to  repent  of  his  past  sins  and  become 
reconciled  to  God  ?  In  other  words,  wliy  should  we  first 
teach  him  that  he  only  needs  a  little  adding  to,  and 
then  immediately  want  to  subtract  a  great  deal — in  fact, 
all,  from  his  former  manner  ol  life,  before  he  can  even 
begin  to  add  anything  to  himself?  Is  it  not  high  time 
that  we  stop  publishing  doctrines  which  we  do  not  and 
caunot  carry  out  in  practice  ?  Ought  we  not  to  cease, 
once  and  for  all,  teaching  for  doctrines  of  God  the  com- 
mandments of  men?  Tracts  on  "God  teaching  the 
heathen  through  nature,"  "  Christianity  the  completion 
of  Confucianism,"  *'  How  to  make  a  million  converts," 
and  such  other  rationalistic  literature  can  only  beruimb 
the  feelings  and  delude  the  senses.  They  are  opiates,  and 
as  such  can  only  leave  the  patient  worse  off  than  they 
found  him.  The  Gospel  is  the  power,  the  '^  Dynamos  ^^ 
of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  who  believes  it. 
If  the  Gentiles  only  by  doing  the  things  contained  in  the 
law  can  be  justified  before  God,  God  forbid  that  I 
should  teach  them  anything  not  contained  in  that  law. 
God  help  me  to  offer  unto  these  little  ones  to  drink  of  no 
other  than  the  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal, 
proceeding  forth  from  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  lamb. 


74 


Again,  it  is  the  doers,  not  tlie  liearers,  wlio  are 
justified;  faith  without  works  is  dead.  Tin's  implies 
that  all  niust  first  have  h^jird  that  law.  Some  Jews 
heard  and  did  not;  some  Gentiles  he.-ird  and  did  tl'.e 
things  of  the  law.  In  the  parable  of  the  two  sons,  it 
was  t.he  one  who  afterward  repented  and  went  into  the 
vineyard,  who  was  commended  for  doinir  the  will  of  his 
fa,tlier.  By  doers  of  the  law  it  is  evident  that  Paul 
meant  those  Gentiles  who  loved  the  Loril  with  the  whole 
heart  and  mind  ;i,nd  soul  and  iheir  Deis:hhor  as  them- 
selves,  for  none  othei-s  do  the  things  contju'ned  iu  the 
Imw.  Oil  these  two  han^  all  the  hiw  ;i.nd  the  prophets. 
Henee  Paul  points  out  those  Gentile  doers  of  the  law 
among  the  saints  at  Rome  to  whom  he  is  writing.  He 
uo  doubt  desires  to  show  the  Jews,  who  were  insisting 
on  first  Judaizing  converts  by  circumcision,  that  they 
should  rather  judge  disciples  worthy  for  church  fellow- 
ship by  the  doini^  of  the  law  rather  than  by  fulfilling 
the  letter,  or  outward  formality,  and  sacrificing  the 
spirit. 

The  interesting  question  now  arises,  How  do  Gen- 
tiles hear  the  law  ?  Have  all  men  a  reliirious  nature, 
and  thus  the  knowledge  within  themselves  without 
hearing?  Paul  writes  in  his  letter  to  the  IC[ihesians 
that  they  were  by  nature  children  of  wi-ath,  even  as 
others.  Or,  is  it  possible,  as  some  of  our  learned  theol- 
ogians affirm,  that  nature  speaks  to  men  ?  But  can 
rocks  and  trees  and  rivers  and  stars  speak  without 
tongues  or  voice  ?  And  have  they  told  to  the  heathen 
the  law  of  God  ?  If  so,  the  natural  theologians  who 
profess  to  be  interpreters  thereof,  have  certainly  mis- 
taken their  calling,  for  no  two  of  them  agree  in  their 
rendering,  and-  they  make  the  so-called  natural  religion 
to  be  very  various  and  exceedingly  like  man-made. 

If  it  were  true  that  man  can  know  God  fi'om  nature 
alone,  it  follows  that  there  never  has  been,  from  Adam 


—  75  — 

to  the  present  time,  a  luau  who  did  not  know  God  ;  for 
all  have  come  in  coutnot  with  nature,  and  God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons.  Tlie  njitnrnl  theulogist  answers 
tliat  all  men  do  have  an  idea  of  G(xl,  but  some  so  fMiilty 
that  they  ;ire  nncoiiscions  of  it.  This  reminds  me  of  Pa- 
rick's  exphmation  why  the  tnrtle  kicked  so  h)Djj^  ufi.er 
his  liead  was  cut  off.  "Suiely,"  said  he,  *•  lie's  entirely 
dend ;  only  he  isn't  conscious  of  it."  Bnt  Paul  s[)eaks 
of  those  who  knew  not  God,  and  Paul  is  still  excellent 
authority. 

The  nuthor  of  Self-Revelatiou  of  God,  Dr.  Harris, 
says:  "God  exists  and  reveals  Himself  in  man's  con- 
sciousness, and  man  is  constituted  wirh  spiritual  sensi- 
tiveness to  the  divine  action  and  influence,  and  with 
(tji})M.city  to  know  God  in  the  revelation  which  He  makes." 
T.'jis  is  an  illnstr.-uion  of  the  natural  tlieoh^giau's  hihored 
attempt  to  eluci(hi,te  wh;i,t  mi^'ht  better  be  stated  in  the 
terse  language  of  ^Scripture,  "God  made  man  in  His  own 
image,  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  became  a  living  soul. ''  In  Adam's  day  there  were 
no  nations  to  hud  out  (lod  from  nature.  Adam  did  not 
have  to  pursue  this  tortuous,  circuitous  route.  God 
spoke  directly  to  him,  and  Adam  heard  and  understood. 
How  long  it  would  have  taken  for  Adam  to  have  found 
out  through  his  own  nature,  or,  "  his  spiritual  environment) 
which  constantly  acted  on  him  and  presented  itself  in  his 
consciousness",  be.'bre  he  would  have  known  God  and 
the  prohibition  not  to  eat  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  Ave  have 
no  means  of  knowing.  We  only  know  that  God  did  not 
leave  him  thousands  of  cycles  meandering  through  the 
lowest  forms  of  savage  life,  worshipping  snakes,  trees, 
cows,  crows  and  crocodiles,  to  gradually  work  up  through 
fire  worship,  Zoroastrianism,  Huddhism.  and  Confucianism 
to  Christianity;  for  Adam  had  only  lived  130  years  when 
his  son  ISeth  was  born.  And  as  Seth  was  given  instead 
of  Abel,  who  was  killed,  and  as  the  record  says  that  Cain 


—  76  — 

had  been  a  tiller  of  the  ground  and  Abel  a  keeper  of 
sheep,  and  all  this  after  Adam  was  driven  out  of  the 
garden  of  Eden,  it  follows  that  Adam's  years  of  experience 
in  natural  theology  were  less  than  one  hundred ;  and  as 
in  the  meantime,  he  had  to  eat  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his 
face,  the  ground  bringing  forth  thorns  and  thistles,  he 
could  not  possibly  have  had  sufficient  leisure  to  try  all 
kinds  of  absurd  religions  in  the  hope  of  finally  hitting 
upon  the  right  one. 

But  how  does  God  say  men  are  to  hear,  and  thus  to 
believe,  the  truth  ?  The  inspired  apostle  writes  to  the 
Romans,  "  Faith  comes  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the 
Word  of  God.  There  is  no  difference  between  the  Jew 
and  the  Greek.  The  same  Lord  is  rich  unto  all  that  call 
upon  His  name.  How  shall  they  call  on  Him  in  whom 
they  have  not  believed  ?  And  how  shall  they  believe  in 
Him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard?  And  how  shall 
they  hear  without  a  preacher?  And  how  shall  they 
preach  except  they  be  sent  ?"'  But  in  every  nation  he  that 
f'earebh  God  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with 
Him.  But  how  shall  they  fear  Him  of  whom  they  have 
not  heard  ?  Or  how  shall  they  work  the  righteousness  of 
an  unheard  of  law  ?  But  some  have  heard,  and  others 
are  hearing,  and  the  glad  word  is  coming  from  a  thou- 
sand mission  fields  that  there  are  those  who  from  among 
the  Gentiles  are  believing  and  doing  the  will  of  God. 

Oh,  that  China  would  desire  these  messengers  of 
salvation  to  hasten  !  How  beautiful  upon  the  mountain 
are  the  feet  of  those  that  preach  the  Gospel  of  peace,  and 
bring  glad  tidings  of  good  things  !  Think  of  the  prodi- 
gals like  the  Syro- Phoenician  woman,  the  centurion  who 
built  the  synagogue,  and  Cornelius,  returning  Jesus  in 
closing  His  sermon  on  the  mount,  says:  "Whosoever 
heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them,  1  will 
liken  unto  a  wise  man.  Whosoever  heareth  and  doeth 
them  not,  unto  a  foolish  man  who  built  on  the  saud." 


Both  classes  were  hearers — the  first  were  also  doers. 
Jesus  di(i  nob  say,  Those  who  never  hear  these  sa3'ings  of 
mine,  but  yet  do  them;  for  how  should  they  be  able  to 
do  that  of  which  they  had  not  heard  ?  But  liis  great 
commission  to  His  disciples  reads  :  (t!o  ye  and  preach 
the  Ciospel  and  disciple  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  :  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  have  commanded  you." 

Again,  after  the  Gentiles  do  the  things  contained 
in  the  law,  the  work  of  the  law  is  shown  to  be  written  in 
their  hearts.  Oust  the  same  as  after  the  wild  olive 
branch  is  grafted  into  the  good  olive  tree,  it  shows  the 
work  of  the  good  tree's  nutriment  within  by  the  folinge 
and  I'ruit  it  puts  forth  without,  the  one  bearing  witness 
to  the  other.  The  law  has  been  active  and  not  dead. 
The  conscience  has  been  enlightened  until  it  is  an  inward 
monitor  zealous  for  the  law.  In  fact,  the  whole  mind  of 
the  man  has  been  so  wrought  upon  that  his  conscience 
knows  intuitively  whether  to  accuse  or  excuse  the  words 
and  actions  of  himself  or  of  his  fellow-men.  Instances 
are  not  wanting  of  Gentiles  who  thus  did  the  things 
contained  in  the  law. 

Take  the  interesting  case  of  the  Roman  centurion. 
Here  was  a  friendly  proselyte  who  built  a  synagogue  at 
Capernaum  for  the  Jews,  because  he  loved  the  Jewish 
nation,  'i'he  Romans  at  this  time  worshipped  lords 
many  and  gods  many.  Their  generals  consulted  auguries 
and  omens  before  starting  on  a  campaign.  Army  dis- 
cipline was  very  strict.  Unquestioning  obedience  was 
demanded  When  this  centurion  besought  Jesus  to  heal 
his  palsied  servant,  he  believed  Jesus  had  power  to  do  so 
by  a  simple  command.  Jesus  said  He  would  come  to  his 
house,  but  the  centurion  sent  immediate  reply  that  he 
did  not  deem  himself  worthy  to  be  thus  honored,  and 
for   this  very  reason   had   sent  the  elders  o'  the  Jews  in 


—  78  — 

His  stead.  What!  the  lord  of  lieaven  come  under  his 
humble  roof!  No  ;  he,  as  an  ofiicer.  had  power  to  order 
a  soldier  to  go  and  he  went,  to  come  and  he  came. 
Jdow  mucii  more  power  has  the  Lonl  of  heaven  and  earth, 
• — if  He  will  but  only  speak  the  word,  his  servant  will 
be  healed  Even  Jesus  marveled  at  the  great  faith  of 
tliis  Gentile,  and  said  to  those  who  followed  :  "  I  have 
not  Ibnnd  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel  ".  Such 
iindoubting,  implicit,  all-confident  faith,  no,  not  among 
God's  own  chosen  y)e()[)le.  Jesus  replied  that  according 
to  his  abundant  faith,  it  would  be  done  unto  him  ;  and 
his  servant  was  healed  from  that  self-same  hour.  And 
then  Jesus  went  on  to  say  that  many  other  Gentiles 
from  the  east  and  from  the  west  woidd  yet  come  and  sit 
down  with  Abraham.  Isaac  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of 
lieaven  ;  but  many  who  prided  themselves  on  their  an- 
cestors, would  be  cast  out  because  of  their  unbelief.  We 
infer  from  Jesus'  wonderful  promise  that  the  "  many  "  who 
Avill  yet  sit  down  in  his  Father's  kingdom  are  those  of 
like  sublime  taith  with  this  Gentile. 

The  dispersion  of  the  Jews  in  foreign  countries  had 
enabled  tliem  to  make  many  converts  to  their  faith. 
These  joined  with  vaiying  strictness  in  the  worship  of 
Jehovah.  After  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  the 
dispersion  was  divided  into  three  great  sections — the 
Babvlonian,  the  Syrian  and  the  Egy{)tian.  The  Jews  of 
the  ^Syrian  provinces  gradually  formed  a  closer  connection 
with  their  new  home,  and  together  with  the  Greek 
languages,  adopted  in  many  respects  Greek  ideas.  Out- 
wardly and  inwardly,  by  its  effects  botii  on  the  Gentiles 
and  on  the  people  of  Israel,  the  Dispersion  appears  to 
have  been  the  clearest  providential  preparation  for  the 
spread  of  Christianity. — Smith's  Bible  Dictionary. 

This  Roman  centurion  had  come  among  the  Jews, 
had  entered  into  their  synagogues,  and  there  heard  the 
law  of  Moses  and  the  will  of  God.     His  heart  had  respond- 


—  7U  — 

ed  ;  he  loved  tlie  Lord,  and  the  nation  whoso  God  is  the 
Lord.  We  do  not  find  that  this  Roman  first  read  out  of 
his  own  inner  consciousness,  the  green  eartli,  or  tlie 
starry  skies,  that  the  Lord  is  all  powerful  to  heal,  and 
can  but  speak  the  word  and  it  is  done.  Not  every  Roman 
officer  loved  the  Jewish  nation,  or  built  them  a  house  in 
which  to  worship  the  true  God.  Not  even  all  who  heard 
of  God  from  the  Jews  did  so,  much  less  have  we  any 
record  of  any  who  nevei"  heard  of  the  Jews'  God  so  doing; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  continued  to  consult  their 
oracles  and  sacrifice  to  their  idols. 

And  so  it  is  to-day.  We  know  that  some,  at  least, 
have  never  heard;  that  they  cannot  hear  without  a 
preacher,  and  furthermore  that  this  preacher  must  be  a 
man  with  a  mind  and  heart  and  soul  consecrated  to  God. 
He  must  be  called  by  God  and  sent  by  God.  The 
king's  business  demands  haste.  Millions  yet  in  China 
and  elsewhere  have  never  heard.  They  cannot  call  on 
him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard,  and  there  is  none 
other  name  under  heaven  given  among  men  whereby 
they  must  be  saved.  It  is  said  that  80,000  persons  die 
in  China  every  day,  without  hope  and  without  God  in  the 
world.  Can  we  estimate  the  value  of  one  soul  saved  ? 
The  whole  world  gained,  profiteth  nothing,  if  the  soul  is 
lost. 

Oh.  for  men  like  Paul  !  Oh,  to  emulate  one  Avho  deter- 
mined not  to  know  anything  among  the  Corinthians 
save  Christ  and  Him  crucified  !  One  who  could  say  at  the 
close  of  life,  "1  have  kept  the  faith.  Henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness  and  not  for  me 
only  (for  there  wasn't  a  selfish  fibre  in  Paul's  make-up) 
but  for  all  those  who  love  the  Lord's  appearing."  Paul 
had  told  many  others.  Many  in  *'  heathen  darkness 
dwelling"'  had  heard  from  the  lips  of  Paul  for  the  first 
time  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  Many  "out  on  the 
mountains    bleak  and   bare,    far   away    from   the  tender 


—  80  — 

Shepherd's  care "  had  reason  to  bless  the  grand  old 
aposfcle  to  the  Gentiles  who  bro'ght  to  their  benighted 
souls  the  first  ray  of  eternal  hope. 

Talk  about  the  joy  at  the  relief  of  Lncknovv.  Can 
it  be  compared  to  the  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner 
that  repenteth  ?  We  read  of  the  thrill  of  emotion  that 
overcame  the  besieged  in  the  legation  at  Peking  when 
those  stalwart  dus^^}-  sons  of  India,  the  first  of  the  relief 
force,  made  their  appearance  on  that  memorable  14th 
day  of  August,  1900.  They  hastened  to  save  the  body; 
let  us  hasten  to  save  their  souls.  "  From  India's  coral 
plain,  they  call  us  to  deliver  iheir  land  from  error's 
chain".  We  may  not  live  to  see  China  all  converted. 
We  may  be  taken  suddenly,  and  our  last  glance  may 
behold  the  proud  and  stiff-necked  still  in  rebellion 
asrainst  their  Maker.  But  we  have  this  consolation,  that 
though  absent  from  the  world  we  shall  be  ushered  into 
the  joy  th  it  shall  be  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God 
over  every  sinner  that  repenteth  from  the  land  of  Sinim. 
Thanks  be  to  God  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


—  81   — 


PART   III. 


How  God's  Word  is  Now  Made  Manifest  Through 
Preaching.— Titus  i.  3;  II.  Tim.  i.  10.     Or, 
The  World=Field  Mission  of  Witnesses 
for  Christ, — Ju.  vi.  29. 


The  Greatest  Reason  in  the  World  for  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  the  Heathen  is  because  they  are  lost. 

To  the  Chrisfcian  man  or  woman,  this  would  seem 
to  be  a  self-evident  fact.  But  there  are  those  who  profess 
to  believe  and  teach  otherwise.  Some  of  these,  because 
of  their  scholarship  in  ancient  languages,  their  authorship 
of  text-books,  and  their  leadership  in  colleges  and  univer- 
sities, more  or  less  direct  and  mold  the  theological 
thought  of  the  day.  Thus,  almost  imperceptibly,  it  has 
come  to  pass  that  the  scholastic  conscience  of  Chris- 
tendom in  regard  to  the  importance  of  the  conversion  of 
the  heathen,  has  passed  into  somnambulant  desuetude. 

Prof.  McGarvey,  ever  on  the  alert,  gives  timely 
warning  from  his  Biblical  watch-tower.     He  says: 

"  There  are  a  few  men  yet  alive  who  are  opposed, 
on  grounds  of  humanity  and  mercy,  to  heathen  missions. 
They  say  that  if  the  heathen  die  without  a  knowledge  of 
the  Gospel,  they  will  be  saved  on  the  ground  of  their 
want  of  opportunity  to  know  and  do  better.  But  if  we 
send  the  Gospel  to  them,  while  some  will  be  saved  by  it, 
a  larger  number  will  reject  it  and  be  lost.  All  who  are 
thus  lost  would  have  been  saved  if  we  had  let  them 
alone.  The  fallacy  of  the  reasoning  is  the  assumption 
that  the  heathen  will  be  saved  if  they  die  as  they  are. 


—  82  — 

It  is  said  in  the  Old  Testament,  'The  wicked  shall  be 
turned  into  hell,  with  all  the  nations  that  forget  God ; ' 
and  the  words  of  the  apostle  Paul  on  this  subject  are 
unambiguous:  'For  as  man}^  as  have  sinned  without 
law  shall  also  perish  without  law;  and  as  many  as  have 
sinned  under  the  law  shall  be  judged  by  law'.  (Rom. 
ii.  12).  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  responsibility  for 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  does  not  depend  on 
us,  leaving  us  some  option  in  regard  to  it;  but  that  it 
has  been  assumed  absolutely  by  Christ  Himself  in 
commanding  us  to  do  the  preaching.  We  are  not  to 
stand  still  in  disobedience  to  Him  because  we  are  afraid 
that  He  will  injure  His  own  cause  by  what  He  commands. 
We  are  to  go  forward,  not  using  our  own  eyes,  but  His, 
knowing  that  He  sees  all  the  way  and  knows  the  wisdom 
of  His  own  commands.  Can't  the  heathen  be  saved 
without  the  Gospel?  The  reply  was,  "That  is  not  the 
question;  but  the  question  is,  can  we  be  saved  if  we  do 
not  send  it  to  them  ?  "  Herein  lies  the  greatest  sin  of 
omission  with  which  modern  Christians  are  charged  en 
Tiiasse  before  the  bar  of  God". — Christian  Standard, 
March  28,  1903. 

To  show  that  Prof.  McGarvey,  as  usual,  knows  what 
he  is  talking  about,  we  need  only  quote  from  the  printed 
works  of  some  of  these  modern  rationalistic  scholars. 

Max  Muller.  the  greatest  authority  of  tlie  1 9th  centniy  on  this 
subject,  in  hia  lecture  on  the  Vedas,  the  antiquity  of  which  is  about 
the  same  as  the  Yih  Kinj,'  of  Confucius,  concludes  as  follows  :  *' There 
is  hardly  one  religion  that  does  not  contain  some  truth,  some  important 
truth  ;  trutli  siifficieiit  to  enable  those  who  seek  the  Lord  and  feel  after 
Him  to  find  Him  in  their  hour  of  need  ". 

A  book  entitled  "Th^^  Gospel  in  Pagan  Religions,"  written  after 
the  World's  Congi  ess  of  Religions  at  Chicago,  attempts  to  show  that 
the  heathen,  even  though  they  never  hear  of  the  historical  Christ,  have 
in  their  religious  books  enf)Ugh  Gospel  to  save  them. 

C.  L.  Bruce,  author  of  "'The  Unknown  God,  or  Inspiration  among 
The  Pre-Christian  Races,"  says  :  "The  apostles  did  not  the  less  exalt 
Christ  and  His  Gospel  that  the}^  acknowledged  those  who  worshipped 
under  heathen  names  as  true  believers  in  God.     Paul  at  Athens,  adroit- 


—  83  — 

ly  mentions  among  their  innumerable  altars  tlie  one  to  the  unknown 
God,  built,  we  may  suppose,  by  pious  Greeks  to  gain  the  protection  of 
some  foreign  go  J,  or  by  some  genuine  worshipper  of  the  'God  of  All.' 
Some  of  his  audience  had  no  doubt  worshipped  the  spiritual  Zeus,  the 
God  of  their  poets,  the  Being  adored  in  the  secret  Mysteries,  and  to 
wlion)  noble  praise  iiad  been  rendered  by  tlie  Stoics.  The  great 
apostle  does  not  denounce  this  worship  or  deride  the  idea  of  Zeus." 

The  Biblical  World,  organ  of  Chicago  Univei  sity,  says  :  Socrates* 
divine  monitor  was  the  spirit  of  Christ  speaking  to  his  soul. 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  in  a  work  on  Comparative  Theology, 
entitled  "Ten  Great  Religions,"  says:  The  pagan  religions  are  the 
effort  of  n)an  to  feel  after  God. 

And  we  hear  sentiments  like  these  expressed  even  by  some  who 
were  sent  as  missionaries  to  Cliina  Rev.  F.  L.  Hawks  Pott,  President 
St.  John's  College,  says  :  We  believe  that  all  men  after  all  are  wor- 
shipping the  one  G<k1.  Their  ideas  of  that  God,  and  their  names  for 
Him,  may  be  different,  but  still  they  are  trying  to  reverence  the  best 
they  know.  We  proceed  on  tiie  basis  of  St.  Paul,  whom  therefore  ye 
ignorantly  worship,  hiiu  declare  I  unto  you — "Tlie  St.  Johii,\^  Echo, 
October,  1902.  Di-.  Gilbert  Reid  in  an  article  in  the  October  Chinese 
^erorc/er,  remarked  that  formerly  '"  the  missionary  body  "  "  suspecte(i 
one  who  discussed  religion  in  a  conciliatory  spirit  with  the  literati  as 
pandering  to  evil,  or  of  becoming  a  Coufucianist." 

I  thus  wrote  in  reply : — 

Now  let  us  not  obscure  the  issue.  What  is  wanted 
is  the  best  plan  to  get  the  Gospel  into  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  the  Chinese.  For  nineteen  centuries  most 
followers  of  the  lowly  Nazarene  have  simply  preached 
Christ,  as  most  missionaries  have  tried  to  do  in  China. 

Another  method  of  procedure  is  now  advocated  by 
the  authors  of  tracts  entitled,  "  How  to  Make  a  Million 
Converts", ''Christianity  the  Completion  of  Confucianism  ", 
and  some  others,  which  may  be  called  the  "  conciliatory  " 
plan.  They  say  that  as  the  Chinese  are  imbued  with 
the  sayings  of  Confucius,  do  not  oppose  or  try  to  over- 
throw these,  but  make  friends  with  them.  (This  sounds 
very  much  like  the  league  Joshua  made  with  the 
Gibeoniies).  They  would  gain  the  attention  and  con- 
fidence for  the  introduction  of  the  Gospel  by  praising  the 
good  in  Confucianism.  They  would  teach  that  (  ontucius 
was  all  right  so  far  as  he  went,  but  he  did  not  go  far 


—  84  — 

enough.  They  therefore  desire  to  supplement  his 
deficiencies,  correct  his  errors  and  retain  all  the  good. 
Thus  they  would  introduce  Christ  through  the  medium 
of  Confucius'  good  sayings. 

Now  those  who  still  hold  that  the  Gospel  is  the  all- 
sufficient  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  who 
believes  it,  whether  ( "hinese  or  foreigner,  not  only  think 
this  a  very  circuitous  and  dangerous  procedure,  but  they 
object  to  the  use,  or  rather  nnsuse,  of  Scripture  and  the 
time  of  the  missionaries  in  promulgating  it,  and  for  the 
following  reasons : — 

1.  To  have  to  teach  the  Gospel  through  Con- 
fucianism, it  is  necessary  first  to  teach  what  is  good 
in  Confucius'  doctrine,  so  as  to  make  true  Confucianists. 
For  it  is  admitted  that  very  few  officials  or  other  literati, 
if  any,  at  the  present  day,  are  true  to  the  best  in 
Confucius'  teachings;  that  even  the  highest  Confucian 
scholars  in  the  empire  give  and  receive  bribes  ;  that  all 
worship  ('onfucius'  tablet,  and  that  all  officials  bow 
before  idols  in  praying  for  rain.  Further,  all  history 
points  to  the  fact  that  fewer  and  fewer  true  (^onfucianists 
are  being  mnde  by  and  of  and  among  themselves.  These 
things  being  so,  it  follows  that  to  adopt  this  plan  we 
must  first  seek  to  convert  the  Chinese  to  true  (Con- 
fucianism, and  then  try  to  persuade  them  to  go  a  step 
farther  and  accept  Christianity. 

Now  there  are  several  in  China  who  have  been 
pursuing  this  policy  for  years.  Dr.  Reid  anticipates,  but 
does  not  answer  the  question.  How  many  converts  have 
they  made  ?  How  many  Chinese  officials  to-day  are 
believers  in  the  Christ  and  earnestly  proclain^ing  the 
Gospel  ?  It  is  intimated  that  those  who  do  not  use  the 
conciliatory  plan  rail  against  Confucius,  make  the  Chinese 
mad,  and  so  do  not  get  a  hearing,  and  that  this  is  the 
reason  why  "  the  church  has  not  made  more  marked 
impression  on  the  literati  of  China." 


—  85  — 

The  fallacy  lies  in  their  premises.  I  have  talked 
with  veteran  missionaries  who  do  not  use  this,  the  so- 
called  "conciliation"  plan,  nor  agree  with  it,  but  who 
preach  Christ  and  His  salvation  directly  to  one  and  all. 
They  meet  the  ('hinese  pleasantly,  take  a  kindly  interest 
in  their  welfare,  and  enter  into  sjnnpathy  with  their  trials 
and  difficulties.  They  converse  with  officials,  attend  their 
feasts,  and  invite  them  in  return.  I  undertake  to  say 
that  the  missionaries  who  do  not  first  preach  Confucius 
and  complete  it  with  the  mention  of  Christianity,  are  not 
all  rash,  uncivil  and  impolite.  I  liave  not  heard  any  of 
these  revile  C'onfucius,  or  hatefull}^  kick  the  Chinese 
servant.* 

But  I  do  know  that  they  respect  the  record  of 
Confucius  enough  not  to  pervert  it  by  flattering  deceit. 
They  are  faithiully  bearing  witness  for  the  Christ  by 
loving  the  Chinese  even  when  persecuted  by  them.  The 
love  of  Christ  constrains  them  to  do  good  unto  those 
who  despitefully  use  them.  Seeing  that  previous 
teaching  has  led  the  Chinese  into  the  slough  of  deceit, 
idolatrous  degradation,  and  political  corruption,  these 
missionaries  are  wise  and  kind  enough  not  to  haim  them 
further  by  elaborating  on  the  cause  of  their  downfall,  but 
begin  to  turn  their  minds  at  once  to  the  only  remedy  for 
them  in  this  present  world,  and  the  only  plan  to  reach 
the  happiness  in  that  world  which  is  to  come. 

2.  This  conciliatory  plan  is  necessarily  local  to  each 
nation  and  tribe.  It  is  not  in  line,  therefore,  with 
Christ's  command  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach 


*  The  author  of  "  Christianity  the  Completion  of  Confucianism  ", 
says:  "I  suppose  that  about  500  years  after  Confucius'  death,  he 
must  in  Hades  have  heard  tlie  doctrine  of  Jesus  (I.  Pet.  iv.  6)  and 
have  recognized  Jesus  as  the  Savior  of  tlie  world."  How  uinvittin<^ly 
his  theology  makes  liini  overreacli  himsp.if,  and  send  good  (?)  Con- 
fucius out  of  the  world  unsaved  (in  Hades)  for  500  years  at  least. 
Tliis,  surely,  is  not  a  very  inspiring  tocsiu  to  rally  men  around  the 
standard  of  Confucius. 


—  86  — 

the  Gospel.  To  be  really  a  competent  teacher  under  this 
new  plan,  as  urged  by  the  author  of  "How  to  Make  a 
Million  Converts  ',  one  must  nec-essarily  plod  laboriously 
through  the  hieroglyphic  labjainth  ot'  Chinese  literature 
to  select  what  he  thinks  is  all  right,  before  he  can  hope 
to  teach  it  successfully.  Then,  if  he  passes  on  into 
India,  he  must  go  all  over  again  the  same  endless  process 
of  siftinof  the  more  attenuated  mass  of  Buddhistic  lore. 

In  contrast  with  this,  we  have  the  simple  plan  of 
directly  preaching  Christ's  Gospel  to  every  creature. 
This  any  one  can  do  so  soon  as  he  reaches  China,  India, 
or  Africa — it  has  a  world-wide  application.  It  succeeds, 
too,  and  has  for  over  nineteen  centuries.  From  140 
believers  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  there  are  at  present 
5uO  millions  in  all  the  world,  or  one  out  of  every  three 
persons  now  living.  And  most  of  these,  all  except 
possibly  100,000,  never  heard  of  the  conciliatory  plan 
whereby  Confucius  and  Christ  are  proven  to  be  friends 
and  not  enemies.  And  a  few,  at  least,  of  these  100,000 
in  China  were  not  reconciled  because  God  was  in 
Confucius  preparing  the  way  for  Christianity,  but  because 
God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  worldly  Taoist  and 
Buddhist  and  Contucianist  unto  Himself.- 

The  conciliatory  policy  further  proclaims  that  Con- 
fucianism has  been  the  salt  of  China.  Now  the  one 
great  virtue  of  salt  is  to  preserve — to  save.  Has  Con- 
fucianism saved  its  people  ?  Not  unless  it  may  be 
said  to  be  a  savor  of  death  unto  death.  And  Christ  says 
that  when  salt  has  lost  its  savor,  it  is  thenceforth  good 
for  nothing.  But,  they  may  say,  we  speak  of  true 
Confucianism.  Of  course  it  has  lost  its  savor  to-day. 
What  we  hear  about  Chang  Chih-tung  and  Tuan  Fang, 
two  of  China's  highest  and  most  enlightened  officials, 
commending  the  suicide  of  the  iSzechuan  viceroy's  eldest 
son  before  his  mother's  coffin,  and  the  imperial  'I  hrone 
eulogizing  this  filial  piety,  and  that  other  decree  in  which 


—  87  — 

the  Throne  ordered  the  governor  of  Fonan  to  burn  sticks 
of  Thibetan  incense  in  worship  to  the  drairon  god  of  the 
Yellow  River,  is  true  enough,  but  that  is  false  Con- 
fucianism, and  true  Confucianism  ought  not  to  be  blamed 
for  all  the  falseness  of  the  present  rulers  or  literati. 

But  as  Ave  have  to  do  with  the  Chinese  of  to-day,  and 
not  with  what  they  might  have  been  as  good  ( 'onfucianists, 
the  task  before  us,  according  to  the  conciliators,  is  first 
to  make  them  good  Confiicianists  and  after  that 
(Christians.  And  here  we  have  presented  the  same  old 
question  that  was  decided  at  Jerusalem  many,  many  years 
ago.  The  Jewish  Christians  wanted  all  converts  first 
to  become  good  Jews  and  then  Christians.  The  conci- 
liators would  have  the  Chinese  prune  off  the  excrescent 
branches  of  Taoism,  Buddhism  and  even  Mohammedanism 
from  the  good  tree  Confucianism,  and  then  graft  on 
Christianity.  We  would  rather  hold  with  the  council  at 
Jerusalem  that  Christ  has  given  no  such  commandment, 
and  that  we  do  not  thus  trouble  those  who  from  among 
the  Gentiles  are  turning  to  God. 

"  C'Onfucianism  the  Completion  of  Christianity" 
would  perhaps  more  nearly  express  the  truth  of  the  so- 
called  conciliatory  plan  than  does  the  phrase  reversed. 
For  to  approach  the  present-day  Chinese,  and  it  is 
with  them  and  not  with  their  ancestors  we  have  to  deal, 
in  a  conciliatory  manner  by  telling  them  if  they  would 
only  live  up  to  the  good  doctrines  of  their  holy  sage, 
they  would  be  proper  subjects  to  examine  and  adopt  the 
Gospel  of  Christ — a  sixth  reader  to  the  Confucian  classics, 
as  it  were — it  follows  that  it  is  necessary  to  go  through 
true  Confucianism  to  reach  Christianity  :  and,  therefore, 
to  the  Chinese  at  least,  Confucianism  is  necessary  to 
completion  in  Christianity. 

Now  some  of  us  do  not  believe  a  word  of  this.  We 
believe  that  a  man  can  hear,  understand  and  obey  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  if  he  has  never  heard  of  the  good  doc- 


—  88  — 

trines  of  Confucius,  or  of  those  of  Laotsz,  or  of  Zoro»aster. 
In  conversation  with  perhaps  the  most  successful  veteran 
missionary  of  China,  he  said: 

"  My  advice  to  yonng  missionaries  is,  Let  Confucius 
alone;  preach  Christ.  When  1  first  -came  to  China,  I 
thought  it  would  be  just  the  thing  to  imitate  the  C.hinese 
in  everything — to  dress  like  them,  to  eat  like  them,  aud 
to  talk  false  politeness  like  them.  But  a  native  visitor 
in  Shanghai— a  thorough  gentleman  and  a  highly 
cultivated  scholar — gave  me  some  advice  which  I  have 
never  forgotten.  *  You  are  a  foreigner',  he  said,  *  be  a 
foreigner,  and  we  the  Chinese  will  respect  you.  But  if 
you  ape  the  Chinese,  we  will  despise  you.'  Such  were 
liis  words,  as  I  yet  remember,  and  I  have  never  ceased 
to  feel  grateful  for  them.  And,  later,  my  Nanking 
teacher  advised  me  not  to  use  Confucius'  sayings  in  my 
preaching,  as  it  would  do  no  good  whatever  and  might  do 
harm.  For  either  the  scholar  says  to  hiniself:  'Yes,  that 
is  just  what  our  Confucius  says  :  their  doctrine  is  like 
ours',  and  he  is  not  moved  to  repentance  or  acceptance; 
or,  if  you  quote  Confucius  to  condemn  him,  you  imme- 
diately close  the  ear  of  your  would-be  listener,  and 
further  preaching  to  him  is  useless.  ISo  that  now  I 
rarely  quote  Confucius  in  my  public  preaching.  I  go 
right  at  my  theme — the  message  of  salvation  Christ  sent 
me  to  deliver — and  leave  the  result  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Of  course,  in  my  guest  room,  or  other  place  of  conversation 
and  discussion,  I  never  miss  the  opportunity  to  explain 
and  enlighten  the  benighted  or  prejudiced  mind  of  the 
literati  concerning  God  and  Christ.  And  here  we  must 
be  tactful,  patient,  wise  as  serpents,  apt  to  teach.  Your 
best  guide  is  Paul's  advice  to  Timothy:  'The  servant 
of  the  Lord  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle  unto  all  men, 
in  meekness  instructing  those  that  oppose  themselves, 
if  God,  peradventure,  will  give  them  repentance  to  the 
acknowledging  of  the  truth;  and  that  they  may  recover 


—  89  — 

themselves  ont  of  the  snare  of  the  devil,  who  are  taken 
captive  by  him  at  his  will". — II.  Tim.  ii.  24-6. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  friendly,  well-meant  advice 
of  one  of  those  (in  the  homeland)  who  "  would  apologists- 
for-the-heathen»be  ": 

"  I  scarcely  approve  of  your  going  to  China.  The  Chinese  are  very 
full  of  prejudice,  even  more  than  Americans.  They  don't  seem  to 
continue  Christian.  Several  centuries  ago,  I  understand,  Catholic 
missionaries  made  many  thousand  converts  in  the  interior,  who  were 
massacred.  The  Chinese  are  more  of  a  puzzle  than  any  other  race. 
The  gates  of  progress  are  closed  against  them,  because  of  their  blind 
worship  of  their  ancestors.  If  Christianity  is  to  do  anything  for 
them,  it  must  be  presented  clearly  in  their  own  language  and  shown 
nob  to  be  antagonistic  to  the  teaching  of  Confucius — for  it  is  not — but 
an  itnprovement  on  it.  The  old  way  of  making  converts  is  not  good 
at  present,  it  seems  lo  me,  mere  assertion.  It  does  not  convince 
even  Chinese.  While  in  China,  keep  your  eyes  open  and  your  sym- 
pathies active.  Don't  try  to  see  things  in  the  light  they  have  Ijeea 
presented  to  us  from  childhood,  but  seek  to  learn  whether  the  idolater 
really  worships  the  image,  or  whether  he  seeks  to  impersonate  the 
Deity  by  giving  Him  a  tangible  form.  The  idea  that  the  images  and 
paintings  in  Catholic  churches  are  worshipped,  prevails  very  generally, 
I  believe,  throughout  the  non-Catholic  community  in  this  country. 
[t  does  no  good  to  bring  up  generation  after  generation  of  children 
with  these  erroneous  ideas,  nor  does  it  pay  to  misrepresent  foreign 
peoples,  their  customs  and  religion." 

Leaving  aside  the  references  to  Catholics  (for  my 
friend  is  a  Catholic)  let  me  say,  first  of  all,  that,  evident- 
ly there  must  have  been  something  radically  wrong 
about  the  Chinese  ;  else  why  all  his  ado  and  cry  in 
raising  mone}^  and  sending  missionaries  to  them  ?  And 
after  going  and  seeing  for  myself,  I  may  state  that  the 
half  of  their  degradation  and  superstition  (idolatrous  re- 
bellion against  God)  has  not  been  told.  My  Catholic 
friend  admits  that  they  are  blindly  worshipping  their 
ancestors.  And  he  contradicts  himself  when  he  says 
that  "Christianity  is  not.  antagonistic  to  the  teaching 
of  (yonfucius",  for  Confucius'  teaching  is  permeated 
throughout  with  the  worship  of  ancestors,  and  Christ 
says  :  "Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him 
only  shalt  thou  serve." 


—  90  — 

Again,  my  friend  is  against  himself  when  he  says  : 
"  Seek  to  learn  whether  the  idolater  really  worships  the 
image,  or  whether  he  seeks  to  impersonate  the  Deity  by 
giving  Him  a  tangible  form."  Now  God  plainly  com- 
mands not  to  make  any  image  or  likeness  of  any  kind 
and  bow  down  in  worship  to  it.  Therefore,  if  an  idolater, 
whether  (catholic  or  heathen,  says  he  is  worshipping 
God  through  his  idol,  he  is  deceiving  himself;  he  is  not 
deceiving  God.  If  my  friend  had  but  reflected  a  momeut 
he  would  have  seen  that  if  the  idolater  really  knew  God, 
he  would  know  that  God  is  not  pleased  with  men  who 
think  that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto  any  tangible  form 
graven  by  art  or  man's  device-  We  do  not  have  to 
go  to  a  foreign  land  to  learn  this,  but  when  we  do  go  to 
those  who  "  inipersonate  the  Deity  by  giving  Him  a 
tangible  form  ",  we  find  them  not  producing  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  but  doing  the  works  of  the  flesh  — 
uncleanness,  envyings,  hatred,  idolatry,  strife,  revellings, 
and  such  like.  And  they  which  do  such  things,  says 
the  inspired  writer,  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God.— Gal.  V   19-22. 

Rev,  Dr.  Dean  says  that  he  gave  an  intelligent 
Chinaman  a  copy  of  our  sacred  books,  assuring  him  that 
they  were  very  old.  Soon  after  the  man  came  back,  and 
with  a  look  of  triumphant  accusation  exclaimed,  "You 
told  me  your  book  was  very  ancient,  but  that  chapter — 
pointing  to  the  first  of  Romans — vou  have  written  your- 
self since  yon  came  here  and  learned  all  about  Chinese  " 
Similar  incidents  are  reported  from  India,  Burmah,  and 
other  heathen  countries. 

"  Such  teachers  as  Confucius,  Sakyamuni,  and  the 
authors  of  the  most  ancient  Vedas",  says  Dr.  Chambers, 
writing  for  the  American  Tract  Society,  are  frequently 
spoken  of  as  guides  who  had  a  divine  appointment,  so 
much  so  that  the  difference  between  them  and  the  human 
authors  of  the  Bible  is  one  of  degree,  not  of  kind.     Here 


— •  91  — 

• 

is  a  case  in  which  to  apply  the  maxim,  'The  tree  is 
known  by  its  fruit'.  What  are  we  to  think  of  the  notions 
of  God  and  of  truth  and  of  right  which  have  led  to  such 
fearful  depravity  ?  Very  various  opinions  exist  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  ethnic  faiths  in  the  world,  but  there  can 
be  no  dispute  as  to  their  actual  character  and  influence. 
'I'hey  do  not  restrain  human  depravity.  The  ''intellec- 
tual illumination,  the  high  moral  precepts,  the  flashes  of 
spiritual  insight"  sometimes  ascribed  to  them  have 
never  moulded  the  habits  or  transformed  the  natures  of 
those  who  received  them.  On  the  contrary,  there  lias 
been  a  continual  progre-s  of  degradation.  Idolatry 
abounds  in  its  most  debased  forms.  Superstition  pre- 
vails everywhere.  Some  of  the  woi-st  customs  (suttee, 
caste,  child- murder)  have  the  sanction  of  religion.  The 
vices  which  seem  inseparable  from  polytheism  are  care- 
fully reproduced  and  cherished.  Nor  does  there  exist  in 
any  one  of  the  ethnic  faiths  a  spark  of  recuperative 
power.  If  the  tone  of  morals  is  to  be  elevated  and 
society  regulated,  it  must  be  by  an  influence  from 
without.  The  only  force  adequate  to  this  great  end  is  the 
Gospel.  Its  spiritual  weapons  can  cast  down  strongholds 
and  bring  every  thought  captive  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ.  How  urgent,  therefore,  the  need  of  Christian 
missions. 

What  we  most  of  all  need  to-day  is  a  great  awaken- 
ing—  a  Christian  awakening.  We  need  to  fully  realize 
that  the  still  unconverted  Chinese  are  lost  ;  yea,  lost. 
Then  with  reawakened  conscience  and  burning  zeal  we 
will  shake  off  this  lethargy,  this  inertia,  this  innocuous 
desuetude,  caused  by  the  too-long  embrace  of  that  huge 
rationalistic  octupus,  higher  criticism  falsely  so-called. 
To  do  this  most  effectually  we  must  needs  go  back  to 
C^hrist  and  hear  Him  anew.  W^e  must  learn  of  Jesus 
again  why  He  came  from  the  Father  in  heaven  to  seek 
and  to  save  the  lost  of  earth. 


—  92  — 

His  great  commission  to  His  disciples,  one  and  all, 
is,  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel  to 
every  creature ".  No  exceptions  are  mentioned.  The 
sent  are  to  preach  to  Jew  and  Gentile,  to  rich  and  poor, 
to  learned  and  unlearned,  to  ruler  and  ruled;  yes,  even 
to  the  heathen  in  their  blindness — preach  to  them. 
For  God  so  loved  the  world — the  whole  world — that  He 
sent  His  only  begotten  Son  that  the  world  through  Iliin 
might  be  saved,  that  is,  that  they  might  not  perish. 
They  were  ready  to  perish ;  they  were  so  hopelessly  lost 
that  only  an  Almighty  Savior  could  rescue  them.  All 
had  sinned — both  Jews  and  Gentiles  Those  who  had 
sinned  without  law,  Avould  perish  without  law;  those 
who  had  sinned  under  the  law,  would  bo  condemned  by 
that  law. 

If  the  heathen  are  not  lost,  then  Jesns  did  not  come 
to  save  them,  for  He  specifically  says  He  came  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost ;  not  to  call  the  righteous 
but  sinners  to  repentance.  If  the  heathen  are  saved 
because  of  their  ignorance  or  want  of  opportunity  to 
hear  the  Gospel,  then  they  are  saved  in  their  sins  and 
not  from  their  sins;  for  Jesus  came  to  save  His  people 
from  their  sins.  If  the  heathen  we  have  met  are  saved 
as  they  are,  heaven  will  be  a  far  different  place  from 
that  described  in  the  20th  chapter  of  the  Revelation. 
There  idolaters  are  distinctly  enumerated  among  the 
classes  of  evil-doers  that  will  not  be  admitted  in  through 
the  gates  into  the  city.  What  one  of  those  we  call 
heathen  does  not  worship  an  idol  of  one  kind  or  another  ? 
Even  the  most  proud,  godless  Confucianist  worships  his 
ancestors,  the  emperors,  and  Confucius'  tablet.  Another 
class  that  will  be  left  without  the  pearly  gates  is  liars. 
Show  me  one  unconverted  heathen  Chinese  who  is  not  a 
liar  and  I  will  confess  to  you  he  is  the  first  one  I  have 
seen  during  nearly  eight  years'  residence  among  them. 
And  this  is  not  intended  as  a  commendation  of  those  not 


—  93  ^ 

called  Chinese  either.     And  so  we  might  go  on  through 
ail  the  list  of  those  who  will  be  left  out. 

P)ut  who  is  it  that  says  the  heathen  are  saved  in 
their  idolatrous  ignorance  ?  Not  Paul,  lor  in  the  epistle  to 
the  Romans  he  proves  that  all  men  have  sinned  and  come 
short  of  the  glory  of  God  Not  the  converted  Chinese, 
for  he  freely  repents  of  the  sins  committed  in  the  times 
of  his  ignorance.  No  one  ever  hears  a  Chinese  Christian 
say  to  liis  brother:  Why,  we  were  worshipping  all  right 
before,  but  we  didn't  know  it.  We  were  foolish  to  get 
out  of  that  saved  state  into  this  place  of  danger  of  falling 
from  grace.  But  we  do  hear  the  stiff-necked,  unconvert- 
ed (  onfucianist  say,  after  getting  from  the  missionary 
the  first  true  knowledge  he  ever  had  of  God,  ''  Yes,  your 
doctrine  is  just  the  same  as  ours;  we  too  worship  8hang 
'i'i  (God)."  We  may  say  of  them  as  Christ  of  the  Samari- 
tans.    *'  They  worship  they  know  not  what." 

Jesus  '  specific  instructions  to  Paul  were:  "  I  send 
you  unto  the  Gentiles  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to 
light  and  from  the  power  of  ^^atan  unto  God."  It  is 
here  plainly  implied  that  the  Gentiles  were  already  in 
darkness ;  else  how  could  they  be  turned  away  from  it  to 
the  light?  This  was  spiritual  darkness,  which  men  love 
because  their  deeds  are  evil  and  hate  to  come  to  the 
light  lest  their  deeds  be  discovered.  It  is  further  implied 
that  the  Gentiles  were  already  in  the  power  of  Satan  ; 
else  the  command  to  turn  them  to  God  would  be 
meaningless.  Now  the  power  of  Satan  is  death.  And 
those  in  Satan's  power,  through  fear  of  death,  are  held 
all  their  lifetime  in  bondage. 

This  adversary,  as  a  roaring  lion,  walketh  about  seek- 
ing whom  he  may  devour  (1  Pet.  v.  8).  He  was  a 
murderer  from  the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth, 
because  there  is  no  truth  in  him.  When  he  speaketh  a 
lie,  he  speaketh  of  his  own,  for  he  is  a  liar  and  the  father 
of  it.— John  viii.  44.     If  it  were  possible,  he  would  deceive 


01    

the  very  elect. — Mt.  xxiv.  24  The  things  which  the 
Gentiles  sacrifice  they  sacrifice  to  devils.  They  do  service- 
unto  them  which  by  nature  are  not  gods,  but  dumb  idols. 
How  can  such  idolaters  keep  themselves  unspotted  from 
the  world?  ('an  a  corrupt  tree  bring  forth  good  fruit? 
Does  rebellion  against  God  produce  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
— peace,  gentleness,  temperance?  Will  the  violation 
of  God's  first  commandment  make  men  loyal  citizens  of 
His  kingdom  ?  No,  a  thousand  times,  No  ;  and  let  no 
man  say,  when  he  is  tempted,  that  he  is  tempted  of  God. 
Let  God  be  true  if  every  man  a  liar.  Paul  plainly 
states  (I  (or.  vi.  9)  that  idolaters  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God  (Cial.  v  21);  and  John  writes  that 
idolaters  enter  not  in  thiough  the  gates  into  the  city  of 
the  New  Jerusalem  (Rev.  Nxii.  15),  but  that  they  shall 
have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burneth  with  fire 
and  brimstone,  which  is  the  second  death  (Rev.  xxi.  S). 

Jews  and  Gentiles  alike  are  by  nature  children  of 
wrath  (Eph.  ii.  3).  The  one  proselyte  whom  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees  compassed  sea  and  land  to  make,  was  made 
two-fold  more  a  child  of  hell  than  themselves.  Proselytes 
were  people  from  outside  the  Jewish  nation,  that  is, 
Gentiles;  or,  to  speak  more  plainly  in  twentieth  century 
English,  heathen.  Heathen,  then,  are  in  a  perilously  lost 
condition.  They  worship  they  know  not  what.  Their 
prayer  repetitions  are  in  vain;  they  will  not  be  heard 
for  their  much  speaking.  Even  though  ignorant  of  the 
Master's  will,  if  the}^  continue  to  do  things  worthy  of 
stripes,  they  shall  be  beaten.  They  must  turn  from  their 
vanities,  these  gods  of  their  own  creation,  the  unknown 
gods  whom  they  ignorantly  worship,  to  the  living  God 
who  made  heaven  and  earth  and  all  things.  As  the 
Ninevites  repented,  so  they  must  repent  at  the  preaching 
of  (yhrist,  because  a  greater  than  Jonah  is  here,  and  He 
says:  '•  He  that  helieveth  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved  ; 
he  that  believeth  not,  shall  be  condemned." 


—  95  — 

But,  says  some  one,  Christ  did  not  say  that  he  that 
does  not  hear  and  does  not  believe,  sliall  be  condemned. 
No,  of  course  not.  For  if  a  person  cannot  believe  that  of 
which  he  lias  not  heard,  neither  can  he  "not  believe" 
that  of  Avhich  he  has  not  Jieard.  It  is  an  in) possible 
dileuin»a.  It  renjinds  me  of  the  story  of  the  lawyer  who 
coul(]  give  nineteen  reasons  why  the  witness  was  not 
present,  and  the  fii'st  one  was  that  he  was  dead;  where- 
upon the  judge  exclaimed.  Stop,  that  one  is  sufficient; 
you  need  not  give  the  other  eighteen  So  if  a  man  says 
he  has  nineteen  good  reasons  why  the  heathen  should 
not  he  condemned,  and  the  first  is  that  he  has  not  heard 
the  Gospel,  I  say,  stop,  that's  enough.  'J'here's  a  man 
out  there  still  in  the  dark  tempest  of  sin,  lost,  drowning. 
You  and  I  must  go  to  the  rescue.  Out  with  the  lifeline  ; 
that  soul  must  be  saved.  One  stornjy  night,  on  the  coast 
of  Scotland,  a  cry  was  heard  from  among  the  breakers. 
A  young  man  started  for  his  boat,  but  his  mother  caught 
him  and  said.  My  son,  you  must  not  go  out  in  this  storm  ; 
you  may  be  drowned;  rememher  your  brother  John  has 
never  yet  returned.  But  his  strong  arms  tenderly  removed 
those  of  his  mother  from  about  his  neck,  as  he  said  : 
"Mother,  there's  a  man  out  there  drowning,  and  I  must 
go."  And  when,  after  long  and  weary  waiting,  she  saw^ 
him  returning,  and  exclaimed,  ''  Did  you  save  the  man  ?  ** 
he  replied,  ''Yes.  and  it  is  n)y  own  brother  John,  too." 

Christian  friends,  the  perishing  heathen  are  your 
brothers  and  mine,  because  they  are  created  in  God's 
image,  and  God's  Son  wants  you  and  me  to  go  to  their 
rescue.  Whoso  hath  this  world's  good  and  seeth  his 
brother  in  need,  and  shutteth  up  his  bowels  of  compassion 
from  him,  how  dwelleth  the  love  of  God  in  him  ?  Greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that  he  lay  down  his  life  for 
his  friends.  Hereby  perceive  we  the  greater  love  of  God's 
Son,  because  he  laid  down  his  life  for  us  while  we  were 
yet  enemies. 


—  96  — 

THE  GREATEST  SIN  OF  OMISSION  IS  NOT  TO  GO  AND  SEND. 

Jesus  says:  "Other  sheep  I  have  which  are  not  of 
this  fold  ;  them  also  1  must  bring."  Does  He  wish  to 
bring  them  through  you  ?  He  has  prayed  the  Father 
not  only  for  you,  but  for  them  also  who  shall  believe  on 
Bim  through  your  preaching.  Will  you  be  one  of  those 
through  whom  the  Fatht^r  will  answer  that  prayer? 
Will  you  be  one  to  give  a  cup  of  cold  water  in  the  name 
of  Christ  ?  There  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels 
over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  ;  will  you  be  one  of  the 
humble  laborers  together  with  God  in  making  that  joy 
come  to  pass?  Peter  testifies  that  God  made  choice  of 
him  that  by  his  mouth  the  Gentiles  should  first  hear 
the  word  of  the  Gospel.  Will  you  be  one  of  those  after 
Peter  who  will  witness  for  ('hrist  unto  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  ?  You  may  be  stoned  at  Lystra,  bub 
out  of  that  stony  place  may  come  a  Timothy.  You  may 
have  to  endure  all  the  hardships  of  a  good  missionary 
soldier  of  Jesus  (hrist,  but  blessed  are  you  if  when  in 
the  prison  house  of  old  age  you  have  a  Titus  whom  you 
may  entrust  with  setting  the  churches  in  order.  Are 
you  willing  to  be  one  of  the  lowly  messengers  of  the 
cross  to  call  the  many  who  shall  come  from  the  east  and 
from  the  west  to  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  Will  you  be  one  of  the 
Gospel  light-bearers  to  lighten  those  lost  in  heathendom  ? 
the  dark  land  of  the  Gentiles?  Are  you  willing  to 
be  one  of  the  unnamed  servants  of  the  Master  to  go 
into  the  byways  and  hedges  and  compel  them  to  come 
unto  the  great  supper? 

Will  you  not  use  the  riches  God  has  entrusted  to 
you,  if  you  cannot  go  all  the  way,  in  sending  other  light 
bearers  into  the  dark  corners  of  the  earth?  Remember 
the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  how  He  said,  if  therefore 
yo\i  have  not  been  faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mammon, 


—  97  — 

who  will  commit  to  your  trust  the  true  riches?  After 
these  worldly  things  do  the  Gentile  millionaires  seek. 
Think  ye  that  the  rich  young  man  was  a  sinner  above  all 
who  have  wealth  ?  1  tell  you  nay ;  but  except  ye  repent, 
ye  shall  all  likewise  perish.  Render  unto  <  "a^sar  the  things 
that  are  Coesar's,  but  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's. 
It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.  Unto  him 
that  hath  this  missionary  spirit  of  the  Master,  shall 
be  given  ;  but  fiom  him  that  hath  not,  shall  be  taken, 
even  that  he  seemeth  to  have.  How  can  the  Gospel  be 
preached  for  a  witness  unto  all  if  you  do  not  go  and  send  ? 

Oh,  for  more  Pauls  to  cry  out,  Woe  is  me  it  I 
preach  not  the  Gospel  of  (Jhrist  ?  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin 
of  omission  to  my  charge,  is  a  prayer  that  can  only  be 
answered  by  myself  For  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher?  And  how  shall  they  believe  in  Him  of  whom 
they  have  not  heard  ?  God  is  not  willing  that  any 
should  perish  ;  are  you  ?  Jesus  came  not  to  destroy,  but 
to  save  men's  lives.  Are  you  willing  to  be  one  wholly 
given  up  to  Christ  and  His  cause — the  salvation  of  the 
whole  lost  world?  Ts  your  meat  to  do  the  Father's 
will  ?  Jesus  says  :  "The  same  is  my  brother  and  sister 
and  my  mother."  Preach  the  Gospel.  The  Scriptures 
testify  of  Me,  says  Jesus.  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  Me.  Ye  are  My  witnesses.  Do 
the  work  of  evangelists.  Are  there  few  that  be  saved? 
was  asked.  There  may  be  fewer  still  if  3^ou  do  not 
arouse  to  action.  For  the  serious  question  to  you  at  the 
present  moment  is  not,  Can  the  heathen  be  saved  with- 
out the  Gospel  ?  But  the  question  is,  Can  you  be  saved 
if  you  do  not  go  and  send  it  to  them  ? 

Be  assured,  my  friends,  that  all  the  unconverted 
heathen  are  still  lost;  not  like  the  lost  prodigals  in 
Christian  lands,  but  they  are  the  most  blindly  lost 
people  in  all  the  world.  And  they  of  themselves  can 
never    grope    their    way    out    of  such    Egyptian    dark- 


—  98  — 

ness.  The}^  must  be  earnestly  and  lovingly  sought 
after  like  sheep  that  have  gone  astray.  If  1  did  not 
believe  that  the  unc(jnverted  Chinese  are  hopelessly  lost 
in  their  idolatrous  rebellion  against  God,  there  are  not 
locomotives  enough  in  the  United  States  to  propel  me 
one  step  in  returning  to  that  land  again. 

Lost.  Let  me  repeat  that  word  with  emphasis — lost. 
Do  we  realize  the  full  import  of  that  word's  meanin^i  ? 
Do  we  actually  believe  the  sad,  the  awful  statement, 
L-O-S-T  ?  Lnagine  some  one  suddenly  breaking  into 
this  room  and  telling  you  that  your  child  is  lost  and 
cannot  be  found.  You  know  he  cannot  Hnd  his  way 
back  of  himself.  The  darkness  of  night  is  coming  on. 
*•  Oh,  my  darling,  my  precious  boy  is  lost",  you  exclaim. 
And  you  do  not  wait  for  an  explanation  of  the  word 
"lost".  The  news  has  aroused  you  to  immediate  action. 
You  go.  and  you  go  at  once.  You  st'nd  others,  and  you 
send  still  others.  You  search  and  search  and  search 
until  yon  save  that  which  is  lost. 

Millions  of  children,  some  one  else's  boys,  are  lost 
out  there  in  the  dark  m  oods  of  heathendom  to-da3^  It 
is  estimated  that  in  ('hina  alone  30,' '00  die  every  day 
without  hope  and  without  God  in  the  world.  If  you 
should  start  at  once  t*  their  rescue,  the  opportunity  to 
K^ave  to-day's  30,000  is  already  gune  and  gone  forever. 
But  to  carry  out  the  figure,  the  morrow's  30,000  have 
not  yet  passed  beyond  your  reach  and  aid.  Oh,  let  us 
hasten;  the  King's  business  requires  haste.  While 
there's  life  there's  hope.  Who  will  be  the  first  to  go  ? 
Who  will  be  the  first  to  say,  Lord,  here  am  I;  send  me; 
1  will  go. 


—  99  — 

CHAPTER  11. 
A  Man  of  Ethiopia. — Acts  viii.  26=40. 

Of  the  cases  of  Grentile  couversions  raeutioned  ia 
the  New  Testament  perha[)S  none  are  so  complete  in 
details  as  this  oue.  It  is  given  step  by  step  from  the 
time  when  the  man  first  heard  of  Jesns  until  he  event- 
nates  in  a  believing,  obedient  soul,  rejoicing  in  Christ 
his  Savior. 

This  man  of  Etliiopia  was  a  Gentile  convert  to 
Judaism,  who  had  been  to  Jerusalem  to  worship.  Being 
a  eunuch,  he  couhl  not  have  been  a  full  member  of  the 
Jewish  comniiinity  (see  Dent,  xxiii.  1),  but  only  a  "pro- 
selyte of  the  gate."  He  ap[)ears  as  an  earnest-minded  wor- 
ship})er.  Race,  rank  and  wealtii  all  had  been  overcome 
in  making  the  long  journey  from  his  Ethio[)ian  home, 
far  away  to  the  south  of  Egypt.  The  needful  outlay  ot 
money  for  tlie  trip  was  not  small.  Doubtless  he  was  a 
busy  man,  for  he  was  head  treasurer  under  the  queen,  a 
position  of  great  authority.  The  name  Oandace  was 
tiia,t  of  the  royal  line,  being  borne  by  successive  queens; 
for  the  kingdom  was  governed  by  queens  as  late  as  the 
time  of  Eusebius  of  Csesarea,  who  died  about  the  year 
A.D.  340. 

He  was  sitting  in  his  chariot  readiuo:  the  prophet 
Isaiah  at  the  7th  and  8th  verses  of  the  53rd  chapter. 
Orientals  are  accustomed  to  read  aloud,  and  it  was  usual 
for  Jews  or  Jewish  proselytes  to  read  from  the  Scriptures 
when  traveling,  to  beguile  the  way,  for  all  other  books 
were  proscribed  as  the  work  of  heathen. 

The  angel  of  the  Lord  brings  word  to  a  particular 
man,  Philip,  to  go  south  at,  noon  and  meet  a  particular 
man  on  the  desert  road  that  goeth  down  from  Jerusalem 
to  Gaza,  and  Philip  obeys  just  as  told.  His  not  to 
reason  why,  his  not  to  make  reply.     The  angel  was  a 


—  100  — 

messenger  of  the  Lord  sent  to  convey  His  raessacre. 
Commnnicatious  by  angels  nnd  those  from  "the 
S[)irit"  are  distiugiiislied  throngliont  the  Acts.  From 
neither  can  we  eliminate  the  supernatural.  All  this 
painstaking  is  to  lead  the  sonl  of  this  Ethiopian  into 
the  greater  light.  The  reason  why  there  are  not  more 
snch  cases  is  because  there  are  not  more  such  seekers 
after  the  light.  To  every  such  seeker,  there  is  a  mes- 
senger of  the  Lord  sent  to  enlighten  him. 

Why  didn't  the  angel  go  himself"?  Because  in  the 
Lord's  plan  of  salvation  there  is  a  place  for  redeemed 
sinners  as  witnesses  for  Christ.  It  is  not  ior  us  to  say 
that  God  conid  have  had  any  better  plan  than  this.  As 
the  plan  stands,  the  man  is  needed  for  its  prosecution. 
The  result  was  that  the  truth  penetrated  into  a  country 
far  away  in  the  ])ersou  of  a  man  of  high  position,  and 
there  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  bore  much  fiuit. 

The  command  to  join  the  chai-iot,  which  would  be 
permitted  by  the  good  fellowship  of  the  road  and  easy 
from  its  slow  pace,  was  given  l)y  "the  Spirit ",  which 
obviously  means  something  different  and  still  more 
nnmistakably  divine  than  that  received  through  an 
angel.  Angels  come  and  go  as  God's  messengers  to 
believers.  The  Holy  Spirit  abides  with  believers,  goes 
with  them,  and  guides  them  into  every  truthful  step. 
Christ  wants  a  witness  to  go  near  and  join  himself  to  a 
needy  sinner,  in  order  that  the  sinner  may  believe, 
repent,  obey  ;  that  the  promise  of  the  gift  of  the  Spirit 
may  be  his.  That  is  the  Gospel  way  of  working  for 
unbelievers.  The  Holy  Spirit's  temple  is  not  an  angel's 
form,  but  it  is  a  believer's  heart.  The  Holy  Spirit 
speaks  from  that  temple  to  the  sinner  through  the  lips 
of  the  loving  and  faithful  disciple  of  Jesns.  And 
until  the  disciple  has  come  near  to  the  unbeliever  and 
lias  joined  himself  to  him,  he  has  not  done  all  in  his 
power  to  bring   the  promise  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  that; 


—  101  — 

nDl)eHever.  If  yon  are  unxions  for  the  spiritual  welfare 
ofa,ii  unbeliever  in  Cliinji,  don'r.  stniid  in  the  homeland 
and  pray  that  the  Holy  S[)irit  will  <4o  nud  reach  hini, 
but  t^o  to  tliat  land  and  join  yourself  to  bin),  prayiu^^ 
God  by  His  Spirit  to  spe;ik  th rough  you  to  tlie  winning 
of  that,  soul  to  Jt^sus.  For  how  can  they  believe  in  Hiiu 
of  whom  they  inive  not  heai'd  ?  And  how  shall  they 
hear  without  a  prejieher?  And  how  shall  they  preach 
except  they  be  sent,  ? 

But  one  says,  an  angel  told  Philip  to  go;  the  Lord 
has  sent  no  angel  to  tell  rae.  Ah,  my  Christiau 
brother,  He  has  sent  one  greater  than  an  angel  to  you  ; 
He  has  more  highly  honored  you  in  sending  you  a 
commission  by  His  only  Son.  For  Jesus  says  to  his 
discij)les  :  "As  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  so  send  I  you." 
Jesus  came  to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  You  must  ^o, 
therefore,  and  do  likewise.  Wherever  in  all  the  world 
there  is  a  lost  soni,  there  in  the  name  of  the  Master  yon 
must  go.  If  yon  have  gone  anywhere  after  a  lost  soul, 
you  are  in  the  path  of  duty.  There  are  hundreds, 
thousands,  yea  millions  lost  in  China  ;  you  may  help  to 
send  some  one  there.  Thus  yon  may  go,  and  thus  you 
may  send.  For  "  Go  and  send  ",  not  "  Go  or  send  ",  is 
the  Christ  command.  You  yourself  must  go  if  only  to 
the  next  person  you  meet.  And  yon  must  send,  for 
"how  shall  they  })reach  except  they  be  sent"?  Go  and 
send,  then,  is  the  disciple's  commission,  now  and  hence- 
forth, one  and  inseparable. 

In  this  8th  chapter  of  the  Acts  we  read  that  when 
the  apostles  at  Jerusalem  heard  that  Samaria  had 
received  the  Word  of  God,  they  sent  unto  them  Peter 
and  John.  They  were  not  content  to  stay  in  Jerusalem 
and  pray.  They  sent  men  who  were  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  be  a  means  oi  im{)arting  this  Pentecostal 
])()wer  to  others.  Paul  hoped  to  go  to  tlie  saints  at 
Rome  that   he  might  impart  unto  them  some  spiritual 


—  102  — 

gift  (Rom,  i.  11).  The  Holy  Spirit  speaks  to  and 
thron<i:h  believers  \n  Jesas.  His  blessings  are  inajiarted 
to  and  through  tliose  who  trust  rhemscdves  to  tiie 
Savior  of  sinners.  So  now  it  we  wonhl  have  others 
share  in  the  gift  of  tlie  Holy  S[)irit,  it  is  for  us,  who 
hnve  received  the  gift,  to  go  and  make  known  the  Gospel 
to  those  in  belialt  of  whom  Christ  has  commissioned  us. 

Philip  rao.  That  is.  the  way  a  man  goes  at  the 
Lord's  work  wlien  he  is  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
wisdom.  He  doesn't:  sliuffle  along  iu  a  half-hearted  way 
as  if  he  were  not  sure  wiiether  to  go  or  to  hold  back,  or 
as  if  he  thought  that  to-morrow  or  an  hour  hence  would 
be  as  well  as  now  for  duty-doing.  He  just  runs  as  if 
everything  depended  on  his  not  losing  a  uiinute.  And 
if  the  man  whom  he  is  sent  to  is  iu  a  chariot,  and  has  a 
i'air  start  of  him,  he  has  need  to  run.  A  great  many 
op])ortunities  of  doing  the  Lord's  work  are  lost  because 
of  delay.  There  are  times  when  resting  aud  waiting  are 
in  order,  but  when  we  know  of  a  soul  iu  need,  and  when 
we  have  a  prompting  from  the  Holy  S[)irit  to  go  to  that 
soul,  the  one  thing  for  us  to  do  is — to  run. 

This  black  official,  from  far  away  in  the  depth  of 
heathendom,  whs  reading  aloud  from  Isaiah.  That 
meaut  something.  Philip's  question,  'Minderstandest 
thou  what  thou  readest?"  is  abrupt,  not  like  the  ordinary 
long-winded  Orieutal  courtesies;  for  what  is  to  penetrate 
must,  have  a  point.  The  preacher  has  not  to  deal  witli 
great  men  who  happeu  to  be  sinners,  but  with  sinners 
who  may  happen  to  be  great  men  ;  and  he  has  to  shape 
his  words  accordingly. 

The  answer  of  the  great  man  to  the  stranger  was 
modest,  ''How  can  I  except  some  one  shall  guide  me?"' 
Three  good  qualities  were  his — earnest  attention  to 
Scripture;  persistent  study  of  it,  even  if  obscure;  and 
willingness  to  learn  from  any  one  who  can  teach.  Many 
susceptible  souls  were  then  being  drawn  to  Judaism,  and 


—  103  ~ 

Jews  were  iu  inauy  instniices  taken  as  o-nides  in  religion, 
in  accordance  witli  the  widely  diffused  expectation  of 
some  great  religions  teacher  arisini^-  from  their  mi(isr. 
Where  there  nre  snch  characteristics,  God  will  not  leave 
nuiu  nngiiided. 

A  unman  helper  has  his  place  iu  Bihle  stnd}''.  The 
Holy  Spirit  guides  Philip  in  explaining  the  Word  of  God. 
So  long  as  the  plan  of  salvation  is  as  it  is,  men  are 
needed  to  warn  and  invite  and  instruct  their  feliow-meu. 
Praying  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  rea,ch  nnhelievers  can 
never  take  the  jilace  of  uoini,^  at  the  call  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  putting  ourselves  alonirside  of  those  who  are 
unconverted,  iu  order  tliat  we  ma,v  witness  to  theui  of 
Christ  and  be  their  guide  toward  Christ. 

Philip  be^^au  from  this  Scripture.  Any  one  who  is 
wise  to  the  winning  of  souls  will  l)e  ready  to  heu:in  anv- 
where  in  the  Bihle  and  ])reach  Jesus  from  that  stailing- 
])oint.  The  Bible  is  one  i'rora  beu;inniitg  to  end.  Man 
lost  throuii^h  his  own  sin  ;  God's  proffer  of  s;>lvaliou  bv 
the  one  Savior;  these  two  truths,  or  these  two  sides  of 
one  great  truth  are  showu  everywhere  iu  the  })ook  of 
God.  We  note,  however,  that  the  particular  place  where 
the  eunuch  was  reading  was  the  very  center  of  prophecy, 
the  clearest  aud  most  undeniable  prediction  of  a  sufferin<>- 
personal  servant,  to  which  the  wliule  story  of  the  cross, 
resurrection  and  glory  could  be  attached  as  fulfillment. 
It  is  a  Gospel  before  the  Gospel.  To  expound  it  is  to 
"  prea(di  Jesus." 

What  facts  Philip  preached  concerning  Jesus  the 
narrative  does  not  state,  but  from  the  eunuch's  question 
we  know  that  he  made  clear  to  him  the  duty  of  obeyin<'" 
Jesus  in  baptism.  And  iu  this  we  see  that  Philip  was 
following  out  Christ's  commission  to  all  preachers  of 
the  Gosj)el,  viz.,  '"Go  ye  into  all  the  w^orld  and  preach 
the  Gos[)el  to  every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is 
baptized,  shall    be    saved."     Aud    again,    "Go   ye    and 


—  104  — 

disciple  all  nations,  baptizini*-  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Sou  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  teacliiug 
them  to  observe  whatsoever  tilings  I  have  comiuanded 
von."  In  like  manner,  Peter  exliorted  on  the  day  of 
ipentecost :  "Repent  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission 
of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  ^ift  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 
Paul  also  preached  the  same  Gospel  to  the  Philippiaa 
lailer,  and  on  his  confession  of  faith  in  Jesus,  baptized 
him.  It  is  not  necessary  to  state  in  every  instance  of 
conversion  all  that  the  preacher  said.  When  the  terms 
of  salvation  are  once  made  plain  by  the  writer,  he  only 
needs  to  note  thereafter  the  peculiar  circumstances,  if 
anv,  in  any  individual  case.  When  any  of  the  apostle^ 
or  New  Testament  preachers  were  asked,  "What  must 
I  do  to  be  saved?"  we  may  be  sure  they  faithfully 
returned  answer  in  the  terms  of  their  Lord's  commission, 
whether  the  details  are  given  us  or  not.  And  so  in  the 
record  of  the  Acts  of  the  A[»ostles,  we  never  find  them 
omittin""  or  adding  any  other  conditions  to  those  of  the 
Gospel.  For,  says  Paul,  if  even  an  angel  should  do  this, 
let  him  be  accursed. 

Since  this  man  had  now  learned  that  baptism  in 
water  was  part  of  the  Lord's  plan,  obedience  to  which 
would  disciple  him  to  Christ,  he  wanted  to  know  if  there 
was  any  hindrance  to  his  immediate  reception  of  the 
rite,  seeiniT  they  had  arrived  at  water  ready  for  the 
purpose.  This  was  the  right  question  to  ask,  for  if  there 
is  any  hindrance  it  is  sure  to  be  on  the  sinner's  side, 
not  on  the  Lord's  side  In  the  margin  of  the  revised 
version  it  is  stated  that  Philip  asked  the  one,  all-important 
question,  "Dost  thou  believe  with  all  thine  heart?"  and 
the  assuring  answer  was,  "I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Son  of  God."  Philip  is  the  Christ-sent  teacher, 
and  is  but  following  the  example  of  his  Master  when  he 
propounded  to  Peter  the  question,  "Whom  do  you  say 


—  105  — 

that  I,  the  son  of  man,  am  ?'*  aod  Peter  nttered  that 
churcli-fouudatiou  truth,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God."  And  it  is  also  like  unto  the  question 
Jesus  asked  of  Martha,  after  declarin<^  **  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life  .  .  .;  believest  thon  this  ?"  And 
she  replied,  '*Yea,  Lord;  I  believe  that  thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God."— John  xi.  25-27. 

]Nothin<(  is  said  about  repentance,  as  the  writer  had 
given  that  along  with  Peter's  preaching  in  earlier  chapters. 
Luke  takes  for  granted  that  the  reader  will  understand 
this.  What  he  puts  stress  on  is  the  quickness  with 
which  faith  sprang  up  in  the  "good  soil."  This  was 
no  case  of  "forthwith  receiving"  because  of  shallow- 
ness of  nature  or  impressions.  Swiftly  springing  faith 
is  not  to  be  always  suspected  or  put  on  its  probation. 
There  are  cases  in  which  no  lapse  of  time  could  increase 
the  proofs  of  genuineness;  and,  in  such,  delay  in  the 
full  recognition  of  a  brother  is  a  vvrong  to  him  and  to 
the  church.  On  the  other  hand,  the  eunuch  teaches 
converts  their  duty  and  wisdom — immediate  avowal  of 
their  faith  and  implicit  obedience  to  Christ's  require- 
ments. 

Philip  must  then  have  indicated  assent,  for  the 
eunuch  himself  gave  the  order  to  stop  the  chariot.  The 
scene  was  strange — the  solitary  wilderness  stretching 
round,  the  little  group,  the  wondering  attendants,  the 
motionless  chariot  with  the  gazing  charioteer,  the  great 
man  following  the  way-side  met  stranger  down  into  the 
water,  the  rite  of  immersion,  which  must  have  seemed 
80  peculiar  to  the  spectators.  And  when  they  came  up 
out  of  the  water,  and  the  Spirit  caught  away  Philip, 
80  that  the  eunuch  saw  him  no  more,  we  can  only 
imai^ine  the  thoughts  of  those  who  looked  on  that  scene 
that  day. 

But  Philip  was  not  to  sit  in  the  chariot  any  more. 
His  task  there  was  done.     His  sudden  miraculous  dis- 


—  106  — 

appeanmce  fitly  sets  the  token  of  God's  command  and 
approval  on  the  eunnch'a  reception  of  baptism.  It  says 
to  the  Christian  preacher  everywhere:  "Do  your  work, 
lead  men  into  Christ,  and  then  do  not  linger  to  get 
praise  or  reward,  but  turn  to  other  needy  souls  and 
tell  them  of  Jesns." 

The  eunuch  was  more  solitary  now  than  ever  before, 
as  he  set  his  face  towards  his  distant  home  with  the 
certainty  that  he  would  find  few,  if  an}^.,  there  to  help, 
teach,  or  sympathize  wii.h  him.  Bnt  he  had  Jesus  in 
his  heart,  and  to  this  lonely  servant  the  promise  applied, 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  yon  alway."  So  he  plunged  into  his 
solitude  and  disapjjeared  from  our  sight  in  heathen 
darkness,  and  yet  *'  he  went  on  his  way  rejoicing  ",  for 
his  new  faith  made  him  richer  than  all  Oandace'a 
treasures  and  more  <;lad  than  ever  before,  and  gave 
him  a  compa,nion  in  his  loneliness,  whose  presence 
brought  "  pleasures  for  evermore ".  An  hour  or  two 
ago  he  had  said  that  he  could  not  understand  without 
a  man  to  guide  him.  The  word  he  uses  is  the  same 
as  Christ  employs  in  His  promise  of  a  Spirit  who 
shall  guide  into  all  truth.  With  that  guide,  "he  needed 
not  that  any  man  should  teach  him,"  and  could  be 
joyful  even  when  his  eyes  no  more  beheld  his  earthly 
teo-cher, 

We  do  not  enough  trust  the  Spirit  of  God  to  guide 
converts  from  heathenism.  The  experience  of  the 
persecuted  chnrch  of  Madagascar,  deprived  of  missionary 
guides  and  left  to  face  martyrdom  with  its  Bible  and 
God's  Spirit,  and  growing  in  spite  of  all ;  or  those 
converts  in  North  China  during  the  Boxer  trouble,  who 
were  left  alone  when  the  foreign  missionaries  fled  to  the 
coast,  and  who,  though  some  were  nearly  killed  and 
others  recanted,  endured  the  suffering  and  grew  stronger 
than  before,  teaches  us  that  the  same  Spirit  which  was 
(enough  for  this  man  in  his  solitude,  is  enough  for  all 


—  107  — 

who  will  yield  themselves  wholly  to  Him  aud  faithfully 
carry  out  His  teachino-. 

As  to  the  pre--Christian  history  of  the  ennnch, 
he  had  been  led  to  believe  in  the  God  of  Israel  perhaps 
from  the  teaching  of  some  far-wandered  Jew  in  his 
home  at  Napata,  the  capital  of  the  Ethiopian  kingdom 
of  Meroe.  This  kingdom  may  be  said  to  have  been  in 
the  district  of  Khartoum,  though  its  capital  stood  some- 
where about  the  site  of  the  present  I)ongola ;  the  two 
places  thus  marking  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  great 
bend  of  the  Nile,  on  which  Berber  stands — about  half- 
way. At  his  home,  also,  he  may,  from  this  instructor, 
have  obtained  a  roll  of  tlie  great  prophet  Isaiah's 
wonderful  words.  **  It  must,"  says  Geikie,  "have  been 
written  in  Greek  which,  as  the  current  language  of  the 
ruling  class  of  Egypt,  would  have  made  its  way  up  the 
Nile.  The  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament  had 
been  made  in  Egypt,  so  that  the  sacred  books  could 
easily  have  been  spread  from  it  in  every  direction.'* 
But  from  whatever  source  he  obtained  his  knowledge  of 
God,  we  are  quite  sure  that  he  was  not  left  to  the  chance 
of  nature's  dim  pages,  his  own  conscience,  nor  any  other 
rationalistic  conjectures  of  the  higher  critical  school. 
For  the  natural  theologist  says  that  his  book  of  nature 
is  not  based  on  revelation.  Blessed  are  they  whose  book 
is  the  book  of  revelation,  driven  by  God  and  witnessed  by 
His  creation,  His  bounty,  and  His  Spirit-filled  men. 
And  twice  blessed  are  those  who  know  God's  Words 
and  do  them.  And  tlirice  blessed  are  they  who  show 
their  love  for  Christ  in  keeping  His  commandments, 
"Go  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature",  "Go 
seek  and  save  the  lost;  ye  are  my  witnesses."  Finally 
blessed  is  he  whom  his  Lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall 
find  so  doing. 

The  natural  result  of  being  filled  with  God's  Spirit 
is  utterance  of  the  great  truths  of  Christ's  Gospel,  with 


>-  ]08  — 

toDgnes  as  of  fire.  A  toii2:ne — the  only  instrnment  of 
the  grandest  war  ever  waged,  man's  speech  to  his  fellow- 
man  ;  a  message  inhuman  words  to  human  faculties; 
from  the  understanding  to  the  understanding,  from  the 
heart  to  the  heart.  A  tongue  of  fire — man's  voice, 
God's  truth  ;  man's  speech,  the  Holy  Spirit's  inspiration; 
a  human  organ,  a  superhuman  power.  Do  you  see  your 
calling  as  a  Christian,  my  hrother,  my  sister  ?  Yon  are 
to  consecrate  your  speech  to  Christ;  you  are  not  to  be  a 
sileut  Christian ;  you  are  to  go,  and  you  are  to  send. 


—  109  — 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.         * 

This  is  a  practical  age.  Belief  is  founded  on  testi- 
mony. Man's  mind  is  nicely  balanced  when  he  is  not 
nndnly  excited  nor  somuambnlantly  inactive.  In  the 
former  case,  the  emotions  are  not  allowed  to  run  away 
with  the  jndgmeut  ;  in  the  latter,  the  mind  does  not 
arouse  snfSciently  to  properly  investigate  and  weigh  the 
evidence  so  as  to  form  a  correct  jndgmeut. 

Take  this  snbject,  for  instance — the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  What  assurance  have  we  that  the  Spirit 
will  come  to  us  and  abide?  How  can  we  know 
definitely  ? 

We  believe  in  Jesus,  we  must  believe  also  in  His 
Word.  He  says  :  "  If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my 
Words ;  and  my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will 
come  unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with  him." — John 
xiv.  23.  By  keeping:  the  Words  of  Jesus,  then,  we  know 
that  He  and  the  Father  will  come  and  abide  with  us. 
Tliis  is  plain.  It  avoids  all  stumbling  blocks  of  ecstacy, 
illumination,  or  other  ])robable  delusions. 

"  By  keeping  the  words  of  Jesus  " — now  what  are 
Jesus'  Words?  He  says:  "Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  Gospel.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized, 
Hhall  be  saved." — Mark  xvi.  15-6.  "Teach  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you." — Matt, 
xxviii.  20.  And  Peter,  filled  with  the  Holy  S])irit,  the  first 
to  preach  in  the  new  dispensation,  said:  "Repent  and 
be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  I  he  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit." — Acts  ii.  38.  The  man  who  thus  keeps 
the  Words  of  Jesus  shall  receive  the  gift  proniised  by 
God.  He  does  not  have  to  wait,  or  further  beseech,  but 
has  God's  own  promise  that  he  shall  receive.     Of  cour!=^3 


—  110  — 

if  a  man  is  not  sincere,  he  does  not  receive  the  gift,  bnt 
a  pnrpose  of  heart  formed  wliile  calm  and  self-possessed 
is  more  likely  to  be  steadfast  than  when  formed  nnder 
excitement  of  any  kind. 

EVIDENCES   THAT   WHAT   SOME    SAY   THEY    ARE   DOING    BY 
THE   HOLY    SPIRIT   IS   NOT   THE   WORK   OF   THE   SPIRIT. 

1.  When  a  man  preaches  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  is 
not  guided  by  the  Spirit  so  to  do. 

Jesus  sent  the  Holy  Spirit  to  His  disciples  to  guide 
them  into  all  truth. — John  xvi.  13.  Now  God's  Word  is 
truth. — John  xvii.  17.  In  the  beginning  was  the  word  and 
the  word  was  with  God  and  the  word  was  God. — John  i.  1. 
This  word  was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  amon^:  us. — John 
i.  14.  His  name  is  Jesus.  And  Jesus  Himself  says  :  "I 
am  the  truth.''— John  xiv.  6.  Now  looking:  into  God's 
truth,  the  Bible,  we  read  :  **  Howbeit,  when  He,  the  Spirit, 
is  come,  He  shall  not  Sj)eak  of  Himself." — John  xvi.  13. 
So  that  when  you  hear  any  one  preaching  the  Holy  Spirit, 
you  may  know  it  is  not  the  Holy  Spirit  speaking,  for  He 
will  not  speak  of  Himself. 

A  Rev.  Stalker  went  around  the  world  preaching 
the  Holy  Ghost.  He  upbraided  Christians,  because  they 
did  not  honor  the  Holy  Ghost  enough.  Now  Jesus  says 
tiuit  all  men  should  honor  the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the 
Father. — John  v.  23,  but  says  nothing  about  honoring 
the  Holy  Spirit.  If  man,  according  to  his  own  will, 
seeks  to  honor  the  Son  by  honoring  the  Holy  Spirit,  he 
is  like  the  Confucianist,  who  thinks  to  honor  Confucius 
by  worshipping  his  tablet,  for  Confucius  nowhere  com- 
mands or  requests  his  disciple  so  to  do. 

A  Rev.  Nichols,  speaking  at  a  mission  conference 
until  in  an  ecstatic  state,  exclaimed,  "  When  the  Holy 
Ghost  gets  into  a  man,  He  can't  help  but  shout !"  He 
further  said  that  in  a  certain  district  where  he  preached 


—  Ill  — 

he  had  made  visits  to  120  Chinese  families,  and  every 
oue  was  represented  iu  his  church.  The  cliairnuia 
quietly  asked  him  if  he  meaut  that  out  of  every  family 
he  visited  there  was  one  representative  in  his  church  ; 
and  Rev.  Nichols  replied,  "Yes."  And  he  would  have 
all  understand  that,  during  his  discourse,  he  was  but  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

2.  When  a  man  prays  to  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  is  not 
guided  by  the  Spirit  so  to  do. 

Jesus  Himself  prayed  to  the  Father. — Matt.  xxvi.  42. 
He  tauo^ht  His  disciples  to  pray  to  the  Father. — Matt, 
vi.  9.  The  Sfiirit  itself  maketh  intercession  to  God  for 
us. — Rom.  viii.  26.  Christians  are  to  f)ray  to  the  Father 
in  the  name  of  Jesus. — John  xvi.  26.  Thus  such  hymns 
as  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  Heavenly  Dove,  with  all  thy  quick- 
ening power,  may  be  petitions  in  which  we  ask^  and 
receive  not,  because  we  ask  amiss. — James  iv.  3.  Zech. 
vii.  12-3.  We  ask  according  to  God's  will  when  we  keep 
His  commandments. — I  John  iii.  22.  And  one  comuumd- 
ment  is,  "  Thou,  when  thou  prayest,  pray  to  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  shall  reward  thee." — Matt.  vi.  6.  Another, 
*' Use  not  vain  repetitions  as  the  heathen  do.  After 
this  manner  therefore  pray  ye  :  Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven." — Matt.  vi.  7,  9.  Why  pray  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
when  it  is  God  who  hears  and  answers  prayer?  John 
xi.  42.  Jews  and  Gentiles  both  have  access  by  one  Spirit 
nnto  the  Father. — Eph.  ii.  18. 

3.  When  a  man  denies  the  divinity  of  Christ,  he  is 
not  guided  by  the  Spirit  so  to  do. 

I  John  iv.  2  says  :  "Hereby  know  ye  the  S{)irit  of 
God.  Every  spirit  that  coufesaeth  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  come  iu  the  flesh  is  of  God.  Now  some  men  say  that 
Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  just  as  every  man  is  the  son 
of  God  ;  but  Jesus  was  the  model  man  in  that  he  did 
no  sin.  But  God's  Word  says:  "Every  spirit  that 
confesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ   is   come  in  the   flesh 


—  112  — 

is  not  of  God,  and  tbis  is  that  spirit  of  anti-Christ."—- 
I  John  iv.  3. 

4.  When  a  man  prays  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  convert 
a  man,  he  is  not  t]^nided  by  the  Spirit  so  r,o  do. 

Jesas  says  He  will  send  the  Holy  Spirit  to  His 
disciples. — John  xv.  27,  and  adds,  ''Whom  the  world 
cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth  Him  not,  neither  knoweth 
Him." — John  xiv.  17.  If  a  worldly  man  cannot  see, 
know  or  receive  the  Holy  Spirit,  liow  can  the  Holy 
Spirit  convert  him  ?  We  mnst  distinguish  between  the 
converted  and  tlie  unconverted  man  in  this  promise  of 
the  Holy  Si)irit.  Paul  writes  to  the  Corinthian  Chris- 
tians :  ^' Tlie  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,"  and  as  if  this  was  not  plain  enough,  he 
addsj  "  Neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they  are  spiritual- 
ly discerned." — 1  Cor.  ii.  14.  And  Paul  also  says  that 
the  Gospel  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every 
one  that  believeth. —  Rom.  i.  ]6.  And  again,  that  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  Word  of  God. — Eph.  vi.  17. 
Further,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful 
and  sha,rper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even 
to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit  and  of  the 
joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart. — Heb.  iv.  12.  James  i.  18 
says:  The  Father  of  His  own  will  begat  us  with  the 
word  of  truth.  And  Jesus  prays  the  Father  for  them 
also  who  shall  believe  on  Him  through  the  word  preached 
by  His  disciples. — John  xvii.  20.  It  is  only  unto  these 
believers  that  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  is  promised.  See 
Acts  ii.  38,  39.* 

*  An  ex-missionary,  commenting  on  Romans  ii.  14,  said  tliat  he 
believed  that  a  good  many  Gentiles,  in  heathen  lauds,  would  be  saved 
without  ever  hearing  the  Gospel.  When  asked  to  cite  some  instances 
in  support  of  liis  belief,  lie  named  Abraham  and  Job,  adding  that  God 
could  to-day  speak  to  people  as  He  spoke  to  those  of  old.  The  heathen, 
)ie  said,  did  not  nt-cessarily  have  to  In-ar  some  one  pre:ich  the  Gospel  or 
read  it  from  the  printed  paj^e  ;  but  God  could  teach  them  directly  as  ia 
former  times.      God'ri  power  is  not  limited. 


-^    113  -^ 

SOME    EVIDENCES   THAT   THE    HOLY    SPIRIT    DWELLS 

IN    A    MAN. 

1.  Wiieii  lie  bears  the  fVuit  of  the  Spirit. 

Jesus  says:  "A  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit.  A 
good  tree  cauiiot  bring  forth  evil  trait,  ueitlier  can  tt 
corrupt  tree  briiii^  forth  good  fruit. — .Matt,  vii.  18.  Now 
tlie  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
gentleuf^ss,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance. — G*li1. 
V.  22.  If  we  see  a  man's  life  bearing  these  kinds  of  fruit, 
we  may  i)e  nssured  that  he  has  the  Spirit  of  God.  The 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  Love.  But  if  instead  of  love,  a  man 
has  liatred  toward  any  one,  how  then  ?  I.  John  iv.  20 
says  :  "  If  a  man  say,  I  love  God  and  hateth  his 
brother,  he  Is  a  liar  ;  for  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother, 
whom  he  li;ith  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  ha 
hath  not  seen?  " 

2.  When  he  testifies  of  Jesns.  John  xv.  26  says: 
"  Wlien  the  Comforter,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  He 
shall  testify  of  me." 

The  disci[)le  of  Jesns  is  commanded  to  preach  the 
Gospel. — Mark  xvi.  15;  to  {)reach  the  wor<l.— II.  Tim. 
iv.  2  ;  to  preach  Christ. — Acts  viii.  5.     Now  no  man  can 

Leaviiiii  H.^ide  the  puzzle  as  to  liow  a  missionary  student  of  the 
Bible  could  cite  Abraham,  the  grandfather  of  the  Jews,  as  a  Gentile  wlio 
did  by  iiHture  the  tilings  contained  in  the  law  not  yet  given  from  Sinai, 
let  us  proceed  at  once  to  find  out  from  Scripture  how  God  has  spoken  to 
men.  Hebrews  i.  1  dechires  that  God  in  former  times  spoke  by  the 
prophets?  and  the  in  tliese  last  days  by  His  Son.  And  His  Son  sent  forth 
His  disciples  into  all  the  world,  praying  the  Father  also  for  those  who 
shall  believe  on  Him  through  their  word.  To  guide  them  into  all  truth 
and  bring  all  things  to  their  remembrance  which  He  had  said  and  done, 
He  sent  thein  the  Holy  ■'spirit,  whom  the  world  cauu()t  receive,  but  His 
disciples  only.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  limited  in 
voicing  the  words  of  Jesus  to  the  used  voices  of  the  whole  number  of 
Jesus'  disciples  at  any  one  time  on  the  earth. 

This,  then,  is  the  greatest  re;ison  in  the  world  why  Christians  8hf)uld 
watch  and  pray  lest  they  enter  by  sleep  into  the  temptation  of  Satan  to 
choke  the  channel  by  which  the  Holy  Spirit  gains  adnjittance  into  the 
hearts  of  other  men. 


—  114  — 

Ray  tlifit  Jesns  is  tlie  Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Spirit. — I. 
Cor.  xii.  3.  Jesus  Himself  told  Peter  when  He  confessed 
Him  as  tlie  Clirist,  the  Sou  of  the  living  God,  ''flesh  and 
blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  you,  but  mv  Father 
which  is  iu  heaven". — Matt.  xvi.  17.  It,  is  Goii  that 
worketh  ill  you,  Christians. — Phil.  ii.  13.  These  sayings 
have  refere-nce  to  Christians  only  and  not  to  men  of 
the  world,  who  cannot  receive  the  Comforter,  which  is 
the  Holy  8[)irit. — John  xiv.  17. 

3.  When  He  shows  things  to  come. — John  xvi.  18. 
JesHs  says  the  spirit  of  trutli  will  show  you  things  to 
come.  And  we  know  that  no  prophecy  ever  came  by 
the  will  of  raan,  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they 
were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit. — II.  Peter  i.  21. 

4.  When  He  glorifies  Jesus. — John  xvi.  14.  Jesus 
says  the  Spirit  t^f  trnth  will  glorify  Me  ;  for  He  shall 
receive  of  mine  and  shall  show  it  unto  you.  The  fault 
of  the  Pharisee  when  he  prayed  was  that  he  glorified 
self. — Lukexviii.  10-14.  He  said  he  was  better  than  the 
Publican,  n,nd  according  to  law  perfect,  faultless.  On 
the  other  hand,  John  the  Baptist's  testimony  was  :  Jesus 
must  increase,  I  must  decrease. — John  iii.  30. 

5.  When  He  reproves  the  world  of  sin  and  of 
righteousness  and  of  judgment. — John  xvi.  8.  He  is 
then  speaking  by  the  Holy  S[)irit,  for  thereunto  was 
the  Holy  Spirit  sent.  John  xvi.  8  reads  :  ''And  when 
He,  the  Comforter,  is  come.  He  will  re[)rove  the  vvorld  of 
sin,  and  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment."  N(nv  how 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  do  this  is  made  plain  enough  if  we 
will  examine  the  record  of  the  Acts  of  the  Af)ostles. 
How  did  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
convict  the  Jews  that  they  had  taken  and  with  wicked 
hands  crucified  that  same  Jesus  whom  God  had  made 
both  Lord  and  <  hrist.  By  the  mouth  of  Peter  ;  for 
when  they  heard,  they  were  pricked  in  their  heart. — 
Acts  ii.  87.     Peter  also  testifies;     "Jesus,  having    re- 


—  U5  — 

ceivod  of  tlie  Father  tlie  proin-ise  of  tlie  Holy  Sinrit-, 
luith  shed  fortli  this  which  ye  now  €ee  and  hear"—' 
Acrs  ii.  33. 

When,  therefore,  you  liear  a  ukui  reproving  the 
world  of  rtin,  and  this  hy  his  Hie  and  example,  as  well 
as  by  his  words,  you  may  know  tliat  it  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  ahiding  in  hirn.  ¥"on  may  kimw  that  he  is  not  of 
the  world, — John  xv.  19;  that  He  is  no  longer  a  worldly 
man. — John  xvii,  16.  Jesns  pray'e<l  the  Father  not  that 
His  disci jiles  shonld  be  taken  out  of  the  worhl,  but  that 
they  he  kept  from  the  evil.' — John  xvii,  15.  Jesus  prom- 
ises to  send  the  Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  His 
disciples. — John  xv.  26.  This  promise  is  not  to  men  of  the 
world. — John  xiv,  17.  it  is  to  true  believers  o-nly.  Jesus 
sends  them  the  Spirit  of  trath  to  gnide  them  into  all 
truth  and  to  bring  a^ll  things  to  their  remembrtsiuce.— 
John  xiv.  20.  Paul  says  :  We  have  received  the  Spirit 
which  is  of  God  that  we  might  know  the  things  that  are 
freely  given  to  us  of  Ood.  Which  tliiags  also  we  speak, 
not  in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  teacheth. — I.  Cor.  ii,  13. 

Now  how  does  the  Holy  Spirit  reach  those  in 
whom  He  does  not  dwell  ?  The  Holy  Spirit  has  no 
voice  in  the  world  exce-pt  us  He  uses  the  human  lii)s  and 
the  human  tongues  of  Jesus'  disciples.  Jesus  does  not 
send  the  Holy  Spirit  to  dwell  in  the  hearts  of  His 
enemies — the  unconverted.  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthian 
Ciiristians  :  '•  Know  ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  the 
temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  is  in  you  ". — I.  Cor.  vi. 
19.  Since  Christians  then  are  the  channel  through  which 
God's  Spirit  is  to  reach  the  world — the  whole  world — 
how  careful  should  they  be  not  to  choke  this  channel  of 
the  world's  sulvation.  For  worldly  men  mus-t  be  born 
again  of  wnter  and  of  the  Spirit.  And  we  see  here  the 
imperative  importance  of  njissio^n  sermons,  literature, 
and    societies,    volunteer    student   i.nove>me.nts,   and   any 


—  116  — 

Ind  all  agencies  tliat  will  arouse  the  faculties  and  stir 
the  spirit  of  Christians  to  their  noblest  endeavor.  Peter 
fnlly  realised  this  when  he  said  :  I  think  it:  meet,  as 
loni(  as  1  am  in  this  t;il)ernacle,  to  stir  up  yonr  pnre  minds 
by  way  of  rememlirance.— IL  Pet.  i.  13  ;  iii.  1.  For  even 
Christians  may  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  (E[)h.  iv.  30),  so 
that  lie  no  more  speaks  through  them.  For  it  is 
impossible  for  those  who  once  tasted  of  the  heavenly 
gift  and  were  made  [)artaker8  of  the  Uoly  Spirit,  if  they 
shall  fall  away,  to  renew  them  again. — Heb.  vi.  4,  6. 

But  has  the  Holy  S{»irit,  then,  no  direct  office  in  the 
conversion  of  nnbelievers  ?  A  irood  Presbyterian  mission- 
ary said  to  me  on  O'-v  voyaire  home  :  "  Do  yon  mean  to 
say,  sir,  that  the  Holy  S[)irit  did  not  move  npon  the 
hearts  of  those  3,000  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  to  convict 
them  of  sin  and  cause  theiTi  to  repent  ?  I  believe,  sir,  "  he 
continued  with  emf)hasis,"  that  there  can  be  no  saving 
conversion  until  the  Holy  Spirit  first  works  on  the  hea,rt 
of  the  unconverted.  Have  you  not  read,  sir,  in  John  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  convict  the  world  of  sin  ?" 

I  replied  that  the  full  text,  when  read  ariiiht,  would 
explain  itself.  Jesus  says  to  His  disciples  (John  xiv.  16, 
17):  "I  will  give  you  another  Comforter,  even  the  S[)iiit()f 
truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive,  because  it  seeth 
him  not,  neither  knoweth  liim."  Instead,  therefore,  of 
promisini^:  that  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself  will  enter  into  the 
hearts  of  His  enemies,  such  ms  were  those  3,000  wicked- 
handed,  blood-guilty,  unpardoned  Jews,  He  distinctly 
states  that  the  world— such  worldly  men — cannot  receive, 
see  nor  know  the  Holy  Si)irit.  Furthermore,  God's 
Word  teaches  that  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  holy  personality 
dwells  only  in  holy  temples.  Paul,  writing  to  the 
Corinthian  Christians,  says:  "For  the  temple  of  God  is 
holy,  which  temple  ye  are". — L  Cor.  iii.  17.  And  again, 
"Know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  is  in  yon  which  ye  have  of  God. —  I.  Cor. 


—  117  — 

vi.  19.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not,  then,  some  mysterious 
illnrninutiou  hovering  io  the  air,  nobody  knows  where, 
keeping  wonld-be  ref)entant  sinners  in  mortn,!  dread  and 
suspense  until  a  sufficient  amount  of  moauings  and 
trroaniiigs  have  been  exacted.  For  Jesus  says  :  "■  The 
Comforter  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  proceedeth  iVom 
the  Father  in  my  name.  I  will  send  Him  unto  yon, 
and  He  shall  be  in  you.  And  when  He  is  come,  He  will 
convict  the  world  of  sin." 

Now  how  did  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  Ho  came  on 
Pentecost  1900  odd  years  ago,  convict  that  Jewish  world 
of  8,000  souls  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment? 
Well,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  gives  no  uncertain  record, 
no  strn,iige,  unaccountably  mysterious  meaninu'.  The 
Holy  Spirit,  as  Jesus  had  promised,  ca,me  to  His  own, 
His  chosen,  those  whom  He  loved  and  who  showed  they 
loved  Him  by  keej)ing  His  words.  And  they  all  beii:an  to 
speak  the  wonderful  works  of  God.  No  troublous  fears 
possessed  their  souls.  It,  was  otherwise  with  the '3,000.  By 
this  we  know  that  the  Holy  Spirit  had  not  yet  entered 
into  them,  for  instead  of  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart, 
as  aTterward,  they  cried  out,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what 
shall  we  do?" 

What  the  record  says  is  that  previously  Peter,  tilled 
with  the  Holy  8pirit.  began  to  speak.  In  other  words, 
be  began  to  use  the  Ciiristiau  armor  that  day  bestowed 
upon  him,  viz.,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word 
of  God.  And  when  they  heard  this  they  were  })ricked 
in  their  hearts.  For  the  Word  of  God  is  quick  and 
powerful  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  pierc- 
ing even  to  the  dividing  asund(;r  of  soul  and  spirit  and 
of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner  of  the 
thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart. — Heb.  iv.  12.  When, 
then,  they  had  heard  the  Word  of  God  by  the  mouth  of 
S()irit-filied  Peter,  they  were  convinced  that  all  thinirs 
they  had  done  to  Jesus  were  naked  and  opened  unto  the 


—  118  — 

evps    of  liim    wirh   wljom   they   had  to  do,   hence  their 
repentant,  crv,  What  shall  we  do? 

Now  the  Gospel,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  is  the 
power  of  God  nuto  salvation  to  every  one  who  believes  it. 
AKCordiiiuly  we  hear  trnth-gnided  Peter  respoudinf>:  in 
the  terms  of  Christ's  great  comniissiou,  Repent  and  he 
baptized  every  one  of  yon  in  the  name  of  Jesns  Christ, 
(that,  name  yon  have  so  persistently  despised  and  that 
person  yon  so  recently  pnt  to  an  ignoraiuions  death  ou 
the  cross) — in  that  very  name  (for  there  is  none  other 
nnder   heaven  given  among   men   whereby   yon  mnst  be 

g.^ved) iu  that  name  yon  mnst  repent  and  be  baptized 

for  the  remission  of  sins  and  then  ye  shall  receive  the 
o-ifc  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Up  to  the  point  of  that 
rnserted  *' tlien  "  they  did  not  have  even  the  promise  of 
the  i^ift  of  the  Holy  S[)irit,  mnch  less  His  already  mys- 
teri<ms  working  it/them  for  their  conversion.  For  how 
conld  the  Holy  Spirit  come  into  them  while  they  were 
yet  nnholy  t,"em[)les,  men  of  the  world,  enemies  to 
Christ?  They  had  not  yet  opened  the  door  of  their 
hearts  to  welcome  that  Jesns  whom  they  had  so  wickedly 
crncified  as  an  impostor  of  the  Son  of  God.  For  the 
natnral  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  <•£ 
God  neither  ctiu  he  know  tlieni,  for  they  are  spiritnally 
discerned.     They   had   not  yet  been   born    of   water   and 

the  Spirit. 

IJut  when  they  jjladly  received  the  word  and  were 
baptized,  the  same  day  the  Lord  added  to  the  chnrch 
snch  as  were  being  saved. 

When  Jesns  said  to  His  disci])les,  Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  Gospel,  and  lo,  I  am  with  yon 
alway,  He  mpant  He  wonld  be  with  them  in  the  person 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  promise  is  then  not  to  others. 
Then  how  are  the  nncouverted,  all  nubelievers  and 
heathen  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit?  Even  as  His 
word  teaches  :    AVhen  a  man  confesses  with  his  month  the 


—  119  — 

Lord  Jesns,  believes  in  liis  lienrt  that  God  has  raised 
him  from  tlie  dead,  repents  and  is  hjiptized  in  order  to 
r.he  remission  of  sins,  he  1»ms  God's  promise  tliat  he 
shall  receive  the  «rif[  of  the  Holy  Spirit. — Rnm.  x.  9,  10; 
Acts  ii.  38,  The  same  order  is  t^iveu  in  Ephesians  i.  13  : 
"  In  whom  (Christ)  ye  also  trnsted,  after  that,  ye  heard 
the  wor  i  of  truth,  the  Gos])el  of  yonr  salvation,  in  whom 
also  after  that  ye  believed,  ye  were  sealed  with  that 
Holy  Spirit  of  promise";  that  is,  the  Holy  Spirit  nses 
the  lips  and  tongue  of  the  Apostle  Paul  to  preach  the 
Gospel  of  salvation,  and  tliereby  tiie  unconverted  Ephe- 
sian  hears,  believes  and  obeys  Christ,  and  is  sealed  with 
the  promised  Holy  S[)irit. 

Then,  having  the  Holy  Spirit  as  liis  guide,  his  voice 
is  the  voice  of  the  S[)irit  so  long  as  he  yields  himself 
freely  and  fully  to  do  God's  will,  which  is  the  will  of 
Christ  by  whom  he  is  sent.  Not  ujy  will  hut  thine  be 
done,  is  the  true  position  for  each  child  of  God  to  take. 
Then,  as  he  adds  to  his  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  know- 
ledge, and  to  knowledge  temperance,  and  to  ten)peran(;e 
patience,  and  to  patience  godliness,  and  to  godliness 
brotherly  kindness,  and  to  brotiierly  kindness  love 
(II.  Pet.  i.  5-7),  then  can  he  hope  to  be  filled  with  the 
►Spirit. — Eph.  V.  18.  Then  can  he  grow  in  gi-ace  and  in 
the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ. — 
II.  Pet.  iii.  18.  Then  may  he  go  on  unto  ])erfection  (Heb. 
vi:l),  reaching  towards  the  stature  of  the  full  man  in 
('hrist  Jesus  our  Lord. — Eph.  iv.  13.  Tiien,  holdiiit:  out 
faithful  unto  the  end  (Eev.  ii.  10  ;  i\la.tt.  xxiv.  13).  may  he 
at  last  fully  know  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ 
his  Sou,  whom  to  know  aright  is  life  eternal. — John  xvii.  3. 


1-20  — 


APPENDIX. 

Some  Friendly  Criticisms  Considered.     Present=day  Rational- 
ists and  Higher  Critics  Against  Themselves. 

I  submitted  the  essay,  "Does  Natnre  Reveal  God  ?" 
to  my  friend,  the  Professor  of  Bible  in  a  prominent 
college.  He  wrote  in  reply:  ''1  need  not  tell  you 
that  it  is  impossil)le  for  me  to  agree  with  it.  It  should 
at  least  make  you  suspect  tbut  there  is  something 
radicjilly  wrong  in  your  view  of  the  case  to  know  that 
all  the  greatest  students  of  history,  and  especially  of 
Comparative  Religion,  decidedly  differ  from  you."  But 
before  he  has  gone  ten  lines  farther,  he  opposes  himself 
in  this  manner  :  "  Most  of  your  essay  seems  to  be 
intended  to  refute  opinions  that  were  never  held  by  any 
competent  thinker,  so  far  as  I  know.  " 

Thus,  in  one  breath,  he  declares  that  all  the  great 
students  of  history,  and  especially  those  of  comparative 
religion,  differ  from  me,  and  in  the  next  breath,  that  I 
am  refuting  views  never  held  by  any  competent  thinker. 
But  let  us  be  charitable.  Perhaps  the  professor  is  right 
in  dubbing  writers  on  comparative  religion  as  incompe- 
tent thinkers ;  but  he  has  unwittingly  included  himself 
in  the  same  category  since  he  cannot  agree  with  me. 

Continuing,  the  professor  writes:  "To  say,  as 
Paul  does,  that  some  men  without  the  aid  of  supernatu- 
rnl  revelation  have  been  able,  from  nature,  history,  and 
conscience  to  learn  something  about  God,  and  to  teach 
these  things  to  others,  is  not  to  say  that  all  men  can 
thus  learn  all  things  about  God.  It  is  not  even  to  say 
that  any  n)an  can  thus  learn  to  know  God  in  his 
character  and  work  as  Jehovah,  or  as  our  Father  and 
the  Father  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ.  All 
that  has  been  or  can  be  learned  of  God  through  nature, 


—   121   -^ 

etc.,  does  not  mnke  auy  the  less  necessary  or  important 
the  siipeninrurMl  redetnprive  revpl.-ition  of  ijrocl." 

The  fallacy  of  the  professor's  reasoning  lies  in  his 
premises.  Jii  what  chapter  and  verse  has  Paul  said  that 
"some  men,  without  the  aid  of  supernatural  revelation, 
have  been  able  to  learn  somk  things  about  God  ?  "  (And, 
of  course,  they  would  hardly  be  competent  to  teach 
others  that  which  they  themselves  have  not  learned). 
Paul  does  say  that  '•  when  the  Gentiles  do  (or  practice  ) 
by  nature  the  things  of  the  law,  they  show  the  work  of 
the  law  written  in  their  hearts  " ;  but  the  law  he  speaks 
of  was  a  supernatural  revelation.  This  class  of  Gentiles, 
then,  are  not  among  the  professor's  •'  some  men  "  who, 
without  supernatural  revelation,  have  learned  some 
things  about  God.  Paul  told  the  Athenians  that  him  of 
whom  they  were  ignorant,  and  whom,  by  their  altar 
inscription,  they  confessed  was  unknown,  he  would 
declare  unto  them,  ami  immediately  declared  unto  them 
God  who  ma  le  heaven  and  earth.  Those  Athenians, 
then,  are  not  among  the  professor's  "some  men  who  had 
learned  some  things  about  (lod  ".  Paul  also  says  of 
those  who  held  down  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  that 
against  them  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  I'rom  heaven, 
because  that  which  may  be  known  of  God,  God  shoAved 
unto  them.  These  again  cannot  be  the  professor's  "some 
men  who,  without  a  supernatural  revelation,  learned 
some  things  about  God,"  since  viod  Himself  reve  led  it 
from  heaven  unto  them 

Thus  is  taken  away  from  the  sinking  professor  the 
last  straw  at  which  he  caught,  and  we  are  sorry  for 
him  of  course.  But,  friends,  ought  it  not  to  be  a 
warninor  to  i]s  not  to  use  the  lanojuao^e  of  the  text^books 
where  the  Scripture  is  better?  All  this  talk  about 
"  learning  of  God  through  nature,  without  the  aid  of  a 
supernatural  revelation",  about  '-the  light  of  nature", 
"  the  law  oi  nature  ",  "  the  God  of  nature  ",  ^'  the  naturcT.1 


—  122  — - 

law  '',  "  the  natural  revelation  of  God",  etc.,  is  language 
wholly  foreign  to  the  Bible.  Inspired  men  do  not  write 
in  this  style.  Nat(<re  does  not  reveal  God  :  nature  gives 
no  revelation.  Holy  men  moved  bj^  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  God's  8on  have  spoken  God's  Word.  No  >cripture 
ever  came  by  will  of  man.  much  less  by  chance  of  nature. 
The  works  of  creation  and  the  bounty  of  providence  are 
God's  witnesses  to  His  spoken  Word,  and  G<»d"s  Word  is 
truth.  The  man  of  G^d  sees  all  God's  glory  in  nature; 
but  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they  are 
spiritually  discerned — I.  Cor  ii.  14.  The  things  which 
are  revealed,  belong  unto  us  and  to  our  children  forever, 
but  the  secret  things  belong  unto  God. — Deut.  xxix.  21). 

Matthew  Plenry's  Commentary  says:  "The  Gen- 
tiles have  the  light  of  nature,  and  by  this  they  shall  be 
judged.  The  light  of  nature  taught  obedience  to  parents, 
forbade  murder,  stealing,  lying  etc."  On  the  contraiy, 
I  think  it  will  be  found  that  the  heathen  are  in  all  stages 
of  forgetrfulness  of  these,  God's  commands.  Some  steal 
without  appaiently  realizing  that  it  is  wrong, — only  if 
caught.  Cannibals  seem  to  have  no  conscientious  scruples 
against  murder.  Lying  is  practiced  naturally  alike  by 
the  uncivilized  Cretan  and  the  most  highly  civilized 
Confucianist,  for  neither  has  any  idea  of  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

It  is  doubtful  if  all  the  obedience  they  render  to 
God's  law  in  honoring  parents  will  avail  them  anything, 
because  it  is  not  done  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  The 
great  sage,  Confucius,  teaches  "that  parents  when  alive, 
should  be  served  according  to  propriety  :  and  that  when 
dead,  they  should  be  sacrificed  to  according  to  propriety  '* 
Now  this  sacrifice  consists  in  burning  incense  before  the 
tablet  in  the  ancestral  hall,  spreading  on  a  table  before 
the  altar  viands  for  the  departed  and  making  prostra- 
tions   and    kotows    to    the    ancestral    tablet.     But    God 


—  123  — 

commands  men  not  to  bow  down  in  woiship  to  any 
image  or  likeness  of  any  kind.  His  commandment  is, 
"Tlioii  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God.  and  ilim  only 
shalt  thou  serve."  iiow  can  Confucianists  serve  God  in 
keeping  the  fifth  commandment,  while  at  the  same  time 
violating  the  first  and  second  ?  Can  they  honor  father 
and  mother  and  dishonor  God  at  one  and  the  same  time  ? 
Has  long  life  on  the  earth  been  promised  to  those  who 
obey  parents  and  disob.ey  God  ? 

No  ;  we  are  to  obey  our  parents  in  the  Lord.  If  we 
obe}'-  them  in  lying  and  stealing,  we  are  not  honoring 
them  in  God's  sight.  If  we  keep  the  law  of  God,  we 
must  keep  the  whole  law.  For  whosoever  offends  in  one 
point,  is  guilty  of  all.  For  He  that  said,  "  Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,  also  said,  Thou  shalt  not  make 
unto  thee  any  graven  image,  or  any  likeness  of  anythmg 
that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath, 
or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth ;  thou  shalt  not 
bow  down  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them,"  Now  if 
thou  honor  thy  parents,  yet  if  thou  make  a  tablet  of  thy 
ancestors  and  bow  down  in  worship  to  it,  thou  art  be- 
3ome  a  transgressor  of  the  law.  And  you  are  not  one  of 
those  Gentiles  who  do  by  nature  the  things  contained 
in  the  law,  for  you  are  doing  the  very  opposite  of  what 
the  law  contains. 

There  are  some  men,  however,  even  som«  who  origin- 
ally went  to  China  as  missionari'es,  as  Dr.  Gilbert  Reid, 
who  say  that  the  Chinese  do  not  worship  their  ances- 
tors. Although  he  knows  that  they  do  all  the  things 
stated  above  before  the  ancestral  tablet  at  a  time  when 
all  the  fanuly  or  clan  are  assembled,  yet  he  excuses 
them  by  saying  that  it  is  simply  their  way  of  showing 
respect  for  the  dead.  But,  honestly,  I  must  confess 
to  you  that  when  i  read  such  statements  as  his,  I  am 
forcibly  reminded  of  the  man  who  read  an  account  of 
his   own   death    in    the   newspaper   and    remarked    that 


—  124  — 

he  knew  it   was  a    I — prodigious  misstatement  as  sooq 
as  he  saw  it. 

Paul  does  not  say  that  the  Gentiles  will  be  judged 
by  the  light  of  nature  or  the  law  of  nature ;  but  he  does 
explicitly  teach  that  ''as  many  as  have  sinned  without 
law,  shall  perish  without  law  ;  and  as  n)any  as  have  smned 
in  the  law,  shall  be  judged  by  the  law."  When  they  are 
without  law.  they  are  not  even  a  law  unto  themselves. 
All  Gentiles  were  without  the  law  of  Moses  for  unto  the 
Jews  were  committed  the  oracles  of  (lod;  salvation  is  of 
the  Jews  Salvation  is  not  a  thing  to  be  reached  by 
any  otie  who  might  vaguely  desire  it  of  a  God  of  mercy, 
but  something  that  had  been  revealed,  prepared, 
deposited  with  a  particular  people,  and  must  be  sought 
in  connection  with,  and  as  issuing  fioin,  them  ;  and  that 
people  the  Jews  For  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are 
just  before  God,  but  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  be 
justified:  in  the  day  when  'lod  shall  judge  the  secrets  of 
men  by  Jesus  Christ  according  to  His  (lospel.  For  we 
shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of  (  hrist  and 
every  knee  siiall  bow  and  every  tongue  confess. — Kom. 
xiv.  10-1  I.  That  every  man  may  receive  the  things  done 
in  the  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  it 
be  good  or  bad  — II.  Cor  v.  10.  And  John  in  his  vision 
on  Patmos  says  :  "  And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great, 
which  were  written  in  the  books.  And  the  sea  gave  up 
the  dead  which  were  in  it  ;  and  death  and  hell  delivered 
up  the  dead  which  were  in  them;  and  they  were  judged 
every  man  according  to  theii'  works. — Rev.  xx.  13. 

A   UNITARIAN    CRiTlC. 

This  friend,  by  birth  a  Quaker,  has  now  become  a 
liberal  thinker.  He  attended  a  session  of  the  Congress 
of  Religions,  which  is  a  child  of  the  Parliament  of  Reli- 
gions held  at  Chicago  in  1893.     He  says  they  call  it  the 


—  125  — 

religion  of  humanity.  He  is  a  great  admirer  of  Dr. 
Barrows,  who  was  President  of  the  Parliament  (^f  Reli- 
gious;  so  he  went  to  hear  him  lecture  on  the  result  of  his 
investigations  as  a  representative  of  the  chair  of  theology 
in  Chicago  University,  of  a  several  months'  trip  in  the 
Far  ICast — in  India.  China  and  Japan. 

Dr.  Barrows  thought  that  "missionaries  were  erring 
in  part,  in  going  to  the  old  mother  religions  of  the  world, 
that  hold  and  have  held  as  old  among  them  before  Chris- 
tianity was  born,  many  of  the  most  inspiring  teachings 
which  have  come  to  us  through  Christianity  and  address- 
ing ourselves  to  them  as  though  they  were  all  wrong,  and 
we  had  the  keys  to  heaven  and  happiness  :  that  they 
must  abandon,  as  absurdly  untrue,  their  religion  that  has 
been  a  sta}^  and  buckler  to  myriads  of  millions  during 
the  hoary  years  of  the  past.''  Dr.  Barrows  spoke  of  the 
"  unity  of  all  religion  under  the  one  universal  fact  o!  God 
and  humanity  :  that  we  all  come  in  a  more  or  less 
spiritual  way  in  search  of  the  truth  ;  that  it  is  absurd  for 
(.  hristianity  to  claim  that  God  suddenly  revealed  himself 
to  a  chosen  handful,  and  that  he  has  not  been  in  all  ages 
leading  the  race  to  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  conception 
of  himself."  Dr.  Barrows  said  we  should  "  teach  them  that 
our  religious  views  are  a  fulfillment  of  a  higher  ideal  and 
not  a  displacement  of  a  totally  worthless  one;  that  the 
message  of  the  missionary  should  not  include  occidental 
peculiarities  and  minor  dogm;is,  but  should  be  a  message 
of  love  and  life,  remolding,  purifying,  and  elevating  their 
more  traditional  worship." 

When  1  finished  reading  these  sayings,  I  had  a  vision. 
I  saw  in  my  vision  that  one  country  in  all  the  wide,  wide 
world  that. has  not  yet  permitted  the  missionary  of  Christ 
to  set  loot  within  its  boundaries.  Oh,  thou  mountain 
encased  Thibet !  Thou  that  waylayest  and  killest  those 
that  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  Christ  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth 


—  126  — 

her  cliickens  under  her  wings;  and  ye  would  not. — Mabt 
xxiii.  37 .  But  hope  dawns  again  on  thy  snow-capped  hills. 
I  see  the  great  professor,  Dr.  Barrows,  starting  for  the 
Orient ;  his  great  heart  overflowing  with  love  and  life  for 
yon.  He  will  give  you  a  message  that  will  remold,  purify 
and  elevate  yowr  more  traditional  worship.  See,  he  has 
reached  the  shores  of  Sinini  ;  he  is  going  up  to  you.  No, 
he  passes  by.  He  is  on  his  way  to  India ;  he  will  go  up 
by  a  shorter  route.  No,  he  again  passes  by  on  the  other 
side.  Hope  deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick.  Oh,  that 
vision  !     How  it  comes  to  me  again  and  again. 

In  all  his  travels  in  the  Far  East,  the  learned  doctor 
did  not  once  go  up  to  fellowship  wdth  the  Dalai  Llama 
and  the  other  good  priests  of  the  Buddhists  *'  who  hold 
and  have  held  as  old  among  them  before  Christianity  was 
born,  many  of  the  most  inspiring  teachings  which  have 
come  to  us  through  Christianity  "  He  did  not  once  set 
foot  on  those  uplands  where  God  has  been  in  all  ages 
leading  the  race  to  a  higher  and  more  spiritual  concep- 
tion of  Himself  In  all  his  painstaking  investigations, 
Dr.  Barrows  did  not  so  much  as  pass  one  friendly  word 
with  them  about  the  religion  which  has  been  a  stay  and 
buckler  to  myriads  of  millions  during  the  hoary  years  of 
the  past.  He  confined  himself  and  his  investigations  for 
the  benefit  of  the  chair  of  theology  in  the  Chicago 
University  strictly,  and  shall  I  say,  selfishly,  to  the  places 
and  peoples  whom  the  missionaries  of  the  cross  of  Christ 
had,  through  long  years  of  toil  and  suffering,  prepared 
for  his  coming  in  peace.  It  was  further  his  good  fortune 
to  go  at  a  time  when  every  engine  which  propelled  him 
over  the  seas  was  the  invention  of  a  Christian  land;  and 
at  a  time  when,  whether  on  sea  or  land,  he  never  got  out- 
side the  protection  of  the  flag  of  that  country  whose  laws 
are  based  on  the  law  of  God  and  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
It  is  true  that  from  the  coast  it  is  a  long  way  up  to 
Thibet,  but  spending  so   many  months  as   the   learned 


doctor  did  in  hin  investigations,  it  is  a  little  woe  Lit 
surprising  that  he  did  not  write  even  a  letter  of  greeting 
to  those  ])eople  who  are  so  elosely  un  ted  to  him  under 
the  one  universal  I'act  of  God  and  huuianitj-,  nor  nrake  of 
them  a  single  inquiry  in  regard  to  their  mother  religion 
of  the  world.  He  with  the  keenest  of  insight,  sin  plied 
by  an  abundance  of  worldly  wisdom,  carefully  observed 
the  pi'oprieties  and  did  not  rashly  rush  into  that  sacred 
country  without  an  invitation.  The  husband  of  Dr 
Susie  .1  Uijiihart  had  tried  that  plan,  and  never  returned 
to  tell  the  tale. 

It  is  very  becoming  and  appropriate  in  Dr.  Barrows, 
therefore,  after  having  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  extended 
investigations  made  possiUe  by  the  missionaries,  to 
reward  them  with  a  plentiful  supply  of  advice,  as  "'Do 
not  teach  them  occidental  peculiarities  and  minor 
dogmas:  do  not  address  them  as  though  they  were  all 
wrong;  do  not  tell  them  that  they  must  abandon  their 
religion  as  absurdly  untrue;  do  not  claim  tliat  God 
suddenly  revealed  Himself  to  a  chosen  handful":  and 
many  other  like  helpful  words  of  encouragement  to  his 
pioneers  and  benefactors.  It  perhaps  did  not  occur  to 
Dr.  Barrow's  mind,  so  absorbed  with  higher  ideals  and 
much  higher  criticism,  that  the  most  obscure  missionary 
in  Japan.  China  or  India  might  possess  more  real  knowl- 
edge of  those  people — their  customs,  literature,  and 
religion— than  the  learned  professor  even  after  all  his 
globe-trotting.  How  could  it,  when  lie  went  with  his 
mind  already  prejudiced  '  unconsciously,  of  couise)  with 
the  higher  critical  theory  of  the  unity  of  all  jeligion  ; 
and  he  could,  at  best,  only  make  a  superficird  exami- 
nation of  the  people  and  their  ways  as  compared  to  the 
missionaries  who  have  lived  years  among  then],  learned 
their  language  and  come  to  know  them  in  their  daily 
walk  and  life  ?  To  leisurely  read  at  a  safe  distance 
some  wise  sayings  culled  from  the  ancient  sages  of  those 


—   V2S  — 

people,  and  then  write  glowing  accounts  of  their  virtue, 
sincere  devotion  to  their  gods,  worshipful  venerati-ai  for 
their  ancestors,  etc.,  is  one  thing;  but  it  is  quite  another 
thing  to  have  to  deal  with  them  in  their  every-day 
deceit,  witness  their  superstitious  worship  of  imaginary 
devils,  heartless  killing  of  girl  babies,  and  licentious 
life  with  concubines,  all  the  while  patiently  exhorting 
theuj  to  turn  from  these  vain  and  vile  things  to  the 
living  God. 

Hut  in  the  end  of  the  vision,  I  saw  the  good 
Samaritan,  as  he  journeyed,  come  to  these  brigand- 
plundered,  priest-ridden,  8atan-bound,  sin-sick  Buddhists 
lost  in  the  mountains  of  Thibet  :  and  when  he  saw  them 
stripped  of  the  Word  of  God.  wounded  and  left  half- 
dead  by  those  who  turned  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  he 
had  compassion  on  them,  and  went  to  them,  and  bound 
up  their  Buddhistic  wounds,  pouring  in  the  oil  of  God's 
kindness  and  wine  of  His  love,  and  set  them  in  his  own 
carringe,  and  brought  them  to  a  Christian  home,  and 
cared  for  them  by  the  Christian  church.  Which  now, 
thinkest  thou,  was  neighbor  unto  the  lost  Thibetans 
that  fell  among  Buddhistic  thieves  ?  He  that  showed 
mercy  on  them?  Jesus  says:  Go  ye  and  do  likewise. — 
Luke  X.  37. 

A    MISSIONARY    CRITIC. 

A  friend  in  the  China  Inland  Mission,  to  whom  T 
submitted  the  essay,  Does  Nature  Reveal  God  ?  wrote 
in  reply:  "The  information  you  give  about  the  deaf 
mutes  is  quite  new  to  me.  Supposing  that  they  had 
a  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong  (see  Romans  ii.  I  5)  was 
there  any  fear  or  dread  to  them  in  the  doing  of  wrong? 
If  so.  dread  of  what?  Again,  there  is  what  is  called 
the  'relioious  instinct',  common  to  our  race  which 
many  authoiities  who  are  true  to  the  Word  of  God  now 
hold  as  a  fact  beyond  dispute.      Dr.  John  G.   Paton   in 


—  129  — 

his  autobiography,  tells  us  that  the  cannibals  in  the 
New  Hebrides  had  a  belief  in  something  higher  than 
thetnselves  to  which  they  rendered  worship,  lie  also 
found  the  same  thing  (the  worship  of  a  stone)  among 
the  natives  of  Australia,  who  are  even  a  degree  lower 
than  the  islanders,  if  this  religious  instinct  be  granted, 
it  must  have  been  implanted  (along  with  the  conscience) 
by  our  all-good  and  all-wise  Creator." 

In  reply  to  my  friend,  I  gave  some  more  instances 
of  deaf  mutes  and  said:  These  cases  fully  answer 
your  question  as  to  uninstructed  deaf  mutes  having  any 
fear  or  dread  in  the  doing  of  wrong.  They  have  none. 
And  so  the  bottom  falls  out  of  the  "religious  instinct" 
hypothesis.  One  of  the  cases  cited  in  the  essay  1  sent 
you  proves  that  the  idea  of  God  is  not  innate  in  the 
human  mind,  and  that  the  nature  of  man  does  not  even 
prompt  him  to  seek  this  knowledge.  Thus  far,  you  see, 
we  are  on  the  solid  ground  of  fact.  Therefore,  Berean- 
like,  we  ought  to  search  the  Scriptures  to  see  if  these 
things  which  "  the  many  authorities  "  you  speak  of  affirm 
are  so. 

Referring  to  Romans  ii.  14-15,  let  us  inquire  who  are 
these  Gentiles  who  do  by  nature  the  things  contained  in 
the  law.  Are  all  Gentiles  included,  or  only  a  part?  If 
only  a  part,  can  we  ascertain  what  part  ?  You  cite  Dr. 
John  G.  Raton's  autobiography,  which  mentions  the 
natives  of  Australia  as  worshipping  a  stone.  (And  let 
me  add  by  way  of  parenthesis,  how,  in  adoring  a  stone, 
they  are  worshipping  something  higher  than  themselves, 
is  not  yet  quite  clear  to  me).  But  you  see  at  once  that 
these  do  the  very  things  not  contained  in  the  law.  See 
first  and  second  commandments.  Is  it  not  evident  that 
by  this  *'  religious  instinct "  theory,  our  text-books  have 
been  (perhaps  innocently)  misleading  us? 

Notice  that  the  Apostle  Paul  refers  alone  to  the 
Gentiles  who  do  by  nature  the  things  of  the  law.    "  These," 


—  130  — 

he  emphatically  states  so  as  not  to  be  misunderstood, 
"  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  their  hearts."  As 
to  the  other  Gentiles,  he  does  not  speak.  He  throws 
over  thetn  the  mantle  of  oblivion. 

Unfortunately  for  most  writers  on  natural  theology, 
they  prove  their  hypothesis  by  citing  the  very  Gentiles — 
cannibals,  savages,  and  others  even  lower  in  degradation 
and  superstitious  rebellion  against  God  which  Paul 
distinctly  excludes  from  Romans  ii.  14.  Is  it  not  a 
slander  on  the  character  of  God  to  say  that  he  has  im- 
planted in  man  a  "  religious  instinct ''  to  worship  a  stone  ? 
Or  something  higher  than  himself,  no  matter  what  ? 
When  He  plainly  commands,  Thou  sbalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  Me?  Does  God  command  man  not  to  make 
an  image  or  likeness  of  any  kind  and  bow  down  in 
worship  to  it,  and  then  endow  him  with  a  nature  that 
makes  him  do  the  direct  opposite  and  the  man  cannot 
help  himself?  No;  let  God  be  true  if  every  man  a  liar. 
God  made  man  upright,  but  he  has  sought  out  many 
inventions.  Let  no  man  say,  when  he  is  tempted  to  do 
wrong,  that  he  is  tempted  of  God  (James  i.  14),  for  God 
tempteth  no  man.  But  every  man  is  tempted  when  he 
is  drawn  awav  of  his  own  lust  and  enticed.  But  God  is 
faithful,  who  will  with  the  temptation  make  a  way  of 
escape. — 1.  Cor.  x.  13.  1,  for  one,  cannot  charge  upon 
God  that  He  is  teaching,  even  dimly  through  nature, 
any  man  to  violate  His  own  commandments,  especially 
the  very  first  one.  If  two-thirds  of  the  human  race  are 
to-day  bowing  down  to  wood  and  stone,  the  fault  must 
be  man's,  not  God's. 

Romans  ii.  14  implies  that  the  Gentiles,  as  a  class, 
were  not  doing  the  things  of  the  law.  As  they  did  not, 
in  times  past,  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  up  and  suffered  them  to  walk  in  their  own 
ways.  One  would  not  naturally  look  among  them, 
therefore,  to  find  the  doers  of  the  law.     And  if  a  Gentile 


—  131   — 

should  do  by  nature  the  thiugs  of  the  law.  he  would  be 
a  marked  exception  to  the  rule.  Jn  other  words,  if  one 
of  the  uncircuuicisiou  which  is  by  natuie,  should  fulfill 
the  law,  he  would  be  such  a  noted  example  of  faith  in 
Uod  as  to  surpass  even  the  most  devout  Israelite, — 
greater  even  than  the  most  foithful  of  the  circumcision, 
feuch  cases  Jesus  Himself  found  in  the  Roman  centurion 
and  Syro- Phoenician  woman,  and  Peter  in  Cornelius. 

But  none  like  these  have  ever  been  found  among 
the  heathen,  pagan,  savage  or  other  (jlentiles  who  had 
long  since  forgotten  the  truth  of  God  once  possessed  by 
their  ancestors.  Paul,  in  all  his  travels,  makes  mention 
of  no  Gentile  who  was  doing  the  things  of  the  law  when 
he  found  him.  He  told  the  people  of  Lystra  to  turn  from 
their  vanities  unto  the  living  God.  He  called  upon  the 
Athenians  to  repent.  He  wrote  to  the  Corinthians  that 
they  were  formerly  Gentiles  carried  away  unto  dumb 
idols;  and  to  the  Thessaloniaiis  thut  they  had  turned 
from  idols  to  serve  the  true  God. — I.  Thess.  i.  9.  He 
reminded  the  Ephesians  that,  in  times  past,  they  were 
Gentiles  in  the  flesh,  having  no  hope  and  without  God  in 
the  world;  that  they  then  walked  according  to  the  prince 
of  the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now  worketh  in 
the  children  of  disobedience ;  and  were  by  nature  the 
children  of  wrath,  even  as  others. — Eph.  ii.  2,  3. 

And  the  early  missionaries  into  Gaul,  Britain,  Ger- 
many and  Scandinavia  mention  no  case  among  those 
peoples  who  were  doing  the  things  of  the  law  before  the 
%vord  of  the  Gospel  reached  them.  And  the  history  of 
the  last  century  movement  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
whole  world  records  no  Patagonian,  no  Hottentot,  no 
Indian,  no  bushman,  no  cannibal  or  other  heathen  Gentile 
■who,  before  hearing  the  Gospel  by  their  preaching  or 
other  agency,  was  doing  the  things  contained  in  the  law. 
Not  only  did  the  Gospel  not  find,  but  it  had  to  create 
a  desire  for  the  truth  and  the  doing  of  these  things. 


—  132  — 

And  so  it  is  to-day.  Wherever  the  missionary  of 
the  ci'oss  goes  to  a  heathen  people,  he  finds  them  not 
doing  the  things  of  the  law  of  God.  It  is  true  none  have 
been  found  (so  history)  without  some  form  of  worship; 
but  that  worship,  without  exception,  has  been  the  not- 
doing  the  very  first  thing  the  law  commands  to  be  done, 
viz.,  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  Me. 

Now  it  is  only  said  of  those  Gentiles  who   do   the 
things  of  the  law  that  they  show  the  work  of  the   law 
written  in  their  hearts.     Just  as  the  sin  of  Judah  (see 
Jer  xvii.  1),  written  with  a  pen  of  iron  and  the  point  of 
a  diamond,  is  graven  upon  the  table  of  their  hearts  so 
»the  doing  of  the  things  of  the  law  by  the    Gentiles    is 
shown  to  be  written    in   their  hearts.     Contrarywise,  it 
follows    that    the    Gentiles    who    do   not    do    the    tl.ings 
contained  in  the  law  do  not  show  the  work  of  the  law 
written  in  their  hearts.     All  the  things  the  Gentiles  did, 
whether    of  the    law  or  not    of  the  law,   were   done   by 
nature  and  not  by  commandment,  for  the  commandments 
were  given    unto  the  Jews.     But   by   nature   a   Gentile 
might  do  good  as  well  as  evil.     His  nature  might  prompt 
him    to  do   what  he   heard  was  right,   as  it  had  before 
prompted  him   to  do  the  wrong.     And  if  he  should  thus 
do  the  things  of  the  law,  he  would  but  be  doing  his  duty, 
and  must  say  to  the  Lord,  I  am  an  unprofitable  servant. 
.For  by  the  works  of  the  law  shall  no  man  be  justified. 
For  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ;  and   that  not  of 
yourselves;  it  is  the  gift  of  God,  not  of  works,  lest  any 
man  should  boast. — Eph.  ii.  7-9.    Not  by  works  of  right- 
eousness which  we  have  done,  but  by  his  mercy  we  are 
being  saved. 

In  every  nation,  he  that  feareth  God  and  worketh 
righteousness  is  acceptable  to  God.  But  when  the  Gen- 
tiles do  not  fear  God,  what  then  ?  When  the  people 
of  Lystra  made  preparations  of  sacrifice  to  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  were  they  fearing  God  and  working  righteous- 


—  133  — 

ness  or  provoking  God  to  wrath?  Fear  God  an.l  1  eep 
His  commandments,  says  the  Preacher,  for  this  is  the 
whole  duty  of  man.— Eccle  xii.  13.  And  by  the  fear  of 
the  Lord,  men  dej)art  from  evil. — Pro  v.  xvi.  6.  One  of 
God's  commandments  is,  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  i^ods 
before  Me.  The  people  of  Lystra,  then,  who  would 
sacrifice  to  Paul  and  Barnabas,  had  not  the  fear  ol'  the 
Lord  before  their  eyes.  These,  then,  are  not  the  kind  of 
Gentiles  who  do  by  nature  the  things  of  th'-  law  ;  and 
hence  are  not  the  ones  acceptable  to  God.  For  had  they 
known  (jod.  they  would  have  known  that  such  sacrifice 
was  highly  displeasing  to  Him;  more  than  that,  they 
would  have  known  that  it  was  what  God.  in  the  law  had 
commanded  men  not  to  do.  The  Athenians  who  wor- 
shipped at  the  unknown-god  altar,  had  they  feared  God, 
would  have  been  afraid  to  give  to  this  altar  the  honor  and 
worship  due  to  God  only. 

The  lives  that  the  heathen  are  living  under  the 
teaching  of  their  ancient  sages,  if  men  would  go  and  see 
for  themselves,  or  carefully  read  the  statements  of  those 
who  have  gone,  should  at  least  make  them  pause  and 
reflect.  Are  those  heathen  reall}-  doing  the  things  of 
God's  law,  whether  by  nature  or  in  any  other  way? 
Writers  on  comparative  religion,  and  those  who  love  the 
beautiful  sayings  of  heathen  philosophers,  have  superfi- 
cially examined  the  subject  and  too  hastily  drawn  their 
conclusion.  Jesus  says  :  If  ye  love  them  that  love  you, 
what  reward  have  ye?  If  the  heathen  honor  their 
parents  and  dishonor  God,  what  reward  have  they  ?  Men 
must  honor  God  more  than  they  honor  parents.  He  that 
loveth  not  the  Heavenly  Father  more  than  the  earthly- 
parent,  cannot  be  the  disciple  of  God's  Son.  Whosoever 
shall  give  you  a  cup  of  cold  water  in  Christ's  name, 
because  you  belong  to  Christ,  shall  not  lose  his  reward. 
But  if  he  give  a  cup  of  water  in  some  one  else's  name, 
what  then  ?     In  God's  sight,  what  reward  has  he  ?     If  a 


—  184  — 

thousand  cups  were  given  to  a  thousand  soldiers  dying 
with  thirst  in  the  name  of  Jupiter,  or  Zeus,  or  Baal,  or 
JMoloch,  or  Buddha,  would  it  have  any  reward  from  God 
whom  it  dishonored  ? 

Doing  by  nature  does  not  necessarily  mean  ''doing 
by  ignorance  ".  A  Gentile  must  needs  exercise  his  highest 
faculties  in  turning  from  his  Former  environment  to  do 
the  thino"s  of  the  law.  His  reason  must  come  into  play. 
Here,  then,  we  see  a  Gentile  reasoning  whether  he  will 
do  the  things  of  the  law,  and  finally  deciding  to  do  them. 
In  this  way  the  work  of  the  law  is  written  in  his  heart. 
The  fact  that  he  does  the  law  by  his  own  reasoning  and 
not  by  commandment  of  another,  shows  that  the  law 
upon  which  he  reasons  has  first  been  presented  to  his 
consciousness.  If  he  were  an  untaught  heathen,  or  in 
any  other  way  a  Gentile  ignorant  of  the  law,  could  he 
reason  thereon  and  decide  to  do  it  ?  How  could  he 
reason  on  that  of  which  he  was  ignorant  ? 

Men  do  a  great  many  things  by  nature  intelligently. 
The  uncircumcision  which  is  by  nature,  if  it  fulfilled  the 
law,  judged  the  Jews  who  violated  the  law.  This  implies 
that  these  particular  Gentiles  fulfilled  the  law  intelli- 
gently. The  first  and  great  commandment  is,  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This  means  to  serve  the 
Lord  with  the  man's  utmost  zeal  and  highest  intelligence. 
And  the  man  who  does  that,  knows  what  he  is  doing,  and 
would  willingly  lay  down  his  life  for  the  object  of  his 
devotion. 


—  135  — 


The  one  God  some  Greeks  thought  out. 


My  friend,  the  learned  Professor,  writes  in  a  second 
letter  thus:  ''A  lew  Greeks  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  was  one  God  who  ruled  the  world.  When 
such  persons  speak  of  gods,  they  use  the  word  about  as 
we  should  •  angels  '  or  '  spirits.'  The  inferior  gods  (angels), 
as  well  as  men  and  nature,  are  all  under  the  one 
Supreme  God,  whether  He  be  called  Zeus  or  left  name- 
less.    So  Aeschylus,  l^lato  and  some  others  thought." 

The  professor  must  have  been  hard  pressed,  or  he 
would  never  have  retreated  to  this  last  ditch.  But  this 
"one  God",  or  "one  Supreme  God,  whether  Zeus  or 
nameless",  will  not  help  him  out. 

Who  was  this  ''one  God"?  One  which  the  Greeks 
came  to  the  conclusion  of,  of  course.  Now  God  who 
made  heaven  and  earth  and  rules  the  universe,  is  one 
Being;  what  the  Greeks  came  to  the  conclusion  of  may 
be  something  quite  different. 

This  ostrich  attempt  to  hide  the  head  under  the 
sand  of  a  general  term  will  not  avail.  We  propose  to 
examine  what  these  some  Greeks  have  said  about  their 
one  Supreme  God.  Cleanthes,  the  Stoic  (B.  0.  260), 
says : 

"Greatest  of  the  gods,  with  many  names,  ever-ruling 
and  ruling  all  things!  Zeus,  origin  of  nature  governing 
the  universe  by  law,  all  hail  !  .  .  .  .  For  nothing  can  be 
better  for  gods  or  men  than  to  adore  with  perpetual 
hynms  the  law  common  to  all."  T.  G.  R.  285. 

In  what  way  does  this  Zeus  differ  from  the  other 
gods  mentioned  ?  Ts  greater  y)ower  his  only  distinction? 
Does  he  but  rule  among  the  gods  as  an  emperor  (often  a 
weaker    man    than    one    of   his   subjects)   rules  over  his 


—  136  — 

empire?  If  so.  tliis  is  nofc  (^od  who  created  man  and 
said:  "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God.  and  beside  me  there  is 
none  other.  I  am  that  I  am,  and  not  what  some  Greeks 
may,  in  their  foolish  wisdom  conclude  that  I  am.  When 
they  in  their  wisdom  knew  me  not,  I  was  pleased  by  the 
foolishness  of  Pauls  preaching  to  have  mercy  on  those 
who  believed. " 

Manipulating  this  general  term  "The  Supreme",  so 
that  a  present-day  meaning  which  an  audience  may  have 
in  mind,  is  taken  advantage  of  to  cover  up  the  meaning 
the  same  general  term  had  to  the  ancients,  will  be 
allowed  to  deceive  no  longer,  for  we  propose  to  remove 
the  mask.  Is  this  one  God  of  Cleanthes  Jehovah?  is 
the  one  Supreme  God  of  Plato  the  God  of  Genesis? 
Christians  have  but  one  God.  Paul  says:  There  is  none 
other  God  but  one.  One  God  made  all;  in  Him  all 
consist;  He  is  all  in  all. 

The  point  to  be  settled  is:  Is  Zens  God  or  a 
counterfeit?  As  Elijah  said,  in  proposing  a  sign  to 
determine  the  true  God  :  If  the  Lord  be  God,  follow  Him; 
but  if  Baal,  then  follow  him.  This  covering  up  the  issue 
in  a  o-eneral  term  that  may  mean  anything,  as  different 
men  in  different  ages  put  different  contents  into  it,  shall 
not  obscure  any  longer.  Like  Elijah,  we  propose  the  test, 
"Who  is  this  Zeus?  this  one  "Supreme  God?"  What 
are  His  attributes  and  actions,  His  own  worshippers  being 
historians  ? 

Thf'y  tell  us  that  his  father  was  Kronos  and  his  mother 
Rhea,  sister  of  Kronos.  And  who  was  Kronos  ?  The 
offispring  of  Gaia,  his  mother,  from  her  incer-marriage 
with  her  own  son  Uranos. 

Then  this  is  the  kind  of  god  that  my  learned  friend 
confidently  assures  us  that  a  few  Greeks  came  to  the 
conclusion  was  the  one  God  who  ruled  the  world.  But 
we  a'  e  not  yet  through  with  the  description  of  him  writter 
by  themselves. 


—  137  — 

Zeus  was  one  of  a  family  of  six,  five  of  whom  are 
included  in  the  twelve  gods  of  the  Olympic  pantheon, 
along  with  their  cousins,  the  six  children  of  Zeus  himself, 
and  Aphrodite,  the  daughter  of  Uranos  by  his  own 
daughter  Ocean. 

As  a  family,  these  twelve  gods  live  together  on 
Olympus,  feasting,  talking,  making  love,  niaking  war, 
deceiving  each  other,  angry  and  then  reconciled.  In  the 
Iliad  we  see  them  at  their  feast,  with  Vulcan  handing 
each  the  cup,  pouring  out  nectar  for  them  all.  But  when 
the  sun  sets,  they  retire  each  one  to  his  own  house, 
which  renowned  Vulcan,  lame  of  both  legs,  built. 
Olympian  Zeus  goes  to  his  couch  and  lays  down  to  rest 
beside  white-armed  Here.  Sometimes  thej''  fight  toge- 
ther, or  fi^ht  with  mortals.  Thus  purely  human  were 
these  gods  ;  spending  the  summer  day  in  feasting  beneath 
the  open  sky,  going  home  at  sundown  to  sleep  like  a 
parcel  of  great  boys  and  girls.  Jupiter  complains  to 
Thetis  that  Juno  is  scolding  him  always.  He  hung  his 
wife  up  in  mid-heaven  with  anvils  tied  to  her  heels,  and 
when  Vulcan  untied  them,  he  was  pitched  from  Olympus 
down  into  the  island  of  Lemnos,  whence  came  his  lame- 
ness. Thus  a  rude  and  brutal  head  of  a  household  was 
the  poetic  Zeus.  Eminently  human  is  the  picture  of  the 
sleep  of  Jupiter  and  Juno  imparadised  in  each  other's 
arms,  while  the  divine  earth  produced  beneath  them  a 
bed  of  flowers,  softly  lifting  them  from  the  ground. 

And  this  is  the  one  Supreme  God  called  Zeus  or 
nameless  which  Aeschylus,  Plato  and  some  others  thought 
out.  Verily  the  mountain  hath  labored  and  brought 
forth  a  mole  !  In  what  way  does  this  Zeus  differ  from 
the  eleven  other  gods  of  the  Olympian  pantheon  ?  Are 
not  the  characteristics  common  to  any  two  or  more  of 
them,  common  to  all  ?  Are  not  all  of  them  equally  gods  ? 
Are  not  all  of  these  gods  alike  imaginary  higher  beings  ? 
And  what  is  this,  if  not  polytheism  ?     Is  Zeus  a  god  and 


—  138  — 

the  other  eleven  only  angels,  as  the  professor  in  despera- 
tion asserts  ?  Do  these  eleven  angels  make  war  ?  So 
does  Zeus.  Do  they  deceive  ?  So  does  Zeus.  Do  they 
get  angry  and  fight  one  another  or  mortals  V  So  does 
Zeus.  In  what  way  do  these,  the  professor's  angels,  differ 
from  the  one  Supreme  God  when  they  all  go  home  to 
sleep,  Zeus  included,  like  a  parcel  of  great  boys  and 
girls  ? 

No,  it  looks  as  if  this,  the  last  apology  of  the 
professor  for  the  heathen,  was  worse  than  the  first.  It 
does  actually  appear  ridiculous,  but  we  must  not  laugh. 
The  wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with  God.  He 
that  sitteth  in  the  heavens,  shall  laugh.  The  Lord  shall 
have  them  in  derision.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear  and 
rejoice  with  trembling.  Be  wise  now,  therefore,  oh  ye 
kings;  be  instructed  ye  judges  of  the  earth.  Ask  of  me 
and  I  shall  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine  inheritance 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possessions. 


KIND  WORDS. 

"  I  have  received  from  Charles  B.  Titns,  of  Harper, 
Kan.,  a  pamphlet  of  eighty-two  pages,  bearing  the  title, 
•The  Greatest  Work  in  the  World;  or,  The  Mission  of 
Christ 's  Disciples  '.  The  subject  is  treated  in  three  parts  : 
Part  First,  'How  God  Has  Spoken  to  Man';  Part 
Second,  'How  God  Has  Not  Spoken  to  Man',  or  'A 
Rebuttal  of  the  Claims  of  Natural  Theology  ';  Part  Third, 
*How  God's  Word  is  Made  Manifest  Through  Preach- 
ing/ 

To  myself,  and  I  think  to  the  majority  of  those  who 
will  read  this  booklet,  Part  Second  appears  the  most 
striking  and  original.  It  is  especially  instructive  in 
regard  to  Confucianism,  the  prevalent  religion  of  China. 
The  author  was  for  seven  years  a  missionary  in  China, 
and  is  now  about  to  return  thither  after  a  vacation  in  this 
country.  He  has  knowledge  at  first  hand  of  this  boasted 
cult  as  it  is  understood  and  practiced  by  its  devotees. 
He  writes  of  it,  therefore,  not  as  an  apologist,  who  knows 
it  theoretically  and  at  a  distance,  but  as  one  who  has 
been  in  the  closest  contact  with  it,  and  understands  it 
practically.  This  part  of  the  pamphlet  would  alone  make 
it  worthy  of  extensive  reading;  but  it  contains  many 
other  forcible  discussions  of  topics  that  are  now  the 
subjects  of  thought  and  discussion.  Such  teaching  as  it 
contains  is  badly  needed  in  China,  where  young  men  who 
have  been  educated  in  European  universities,  and  in  some 
universities  of  America,  are  propagating  among  their 
countrymen  all  the  skeptical  teachings  which  they  have 
imbibed  from  Western  professors.  Skepticism  in  all  of  its 
modern  forms  is  leavening  the  educated  minds  of  China, 
Japan  and  India,  as  it  is  in  Europe  and  America  :  and  its 
sources  in  all  are  the  same.  It  is  comforting  to  know 
that  in  Bro.  'J'itus  our  Foreign  Society  has  a  man  able 


and  willing  to  combat  this  destructive  tendency  wherever 
he  meets  it.  To  send  as  missionaries  to  heathen  lands 
men  favorable  to  this  neology  would  be  to  work  into  the 
hands  of  men  already  there  whose  influence  is  more  difficult 
to  overcome  than  open  idolatry.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
our  C.  W.  B.  M.  will  adhere  to  the  good  example  in  this 
respect  set  them  by  the  Foreign  Society." — J.  VV". 
McGarvey,  Pres.  College  of  the  Bible,  Lexington,  Ky.,  in 
Biblical  Criticism  Department  of  the  Christian  Standard, 
Sept.  8,  1906. 

"  The  Greatest  Work  In  The  World"'.  Price  in-paper 
cover,  $1.00;  cloth,  $1.^0.  Order  of  the  author,  Wuhu, 
China;  or  Presbyterian  Mission  I^ess.  vjKA>i.i^ax^  Ci^^J^/^ 


